The Three Musketeers from Racers Track Club all qualified on Wednesday to carry Jamaica’s colours in the men’s 200 metres final at the London Olympics. First through was Yohan Blake, who eased down while winning heat 1 in 20.01 seconds (wind -0.5 m/s) in front of the USA’s Wallace Spearmon and France’s Christophe Lemaitre who scrambled to clinch runner-up qualifying spots in 20.02 and 20.03 respectively.
In the second heat, as expected, Usain Bolt cruised home to win in 20.18 (wind -0.6) chased by South Africa’s Anaso Jobodwana (20.27) and Ecuador’s Alex Quinonez (20.37), who also qualified for the final.
In the third heat, Warren Weir motored pass Churandy Martina of the Netherlands as they came out of the curve but his attempt to conserve energy by coasting in the straight resulted in him being pipped on the line by Martina in 20.17 (wind -0.4). Weir came home in 20.28, his top-2 position making him an automatic qualifier for the final.
Thursday evening’s final will see Yohan Blake starting in lane 4, Usain Bolt in lane 7 and Warren Weir in lane 8. The lanes in use will be lanes 1 to 9.
