Sifuentes Advances to IAAF World Championships Semifinals
8/4/2017 4:27:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
LONDON --- Running in what IAAF Radio dubbed the fastest prelims heat in meet history, former University of Michigan women's track and field standout and current volunteer assistant Nicole Sifuentes clocked a season's best time at 1,500 meters on Friday (Aug. 4) to advance to Saturday's semifinal round at the 16th IAAF World Championships.
The Canadian Sifuentes crossed the line in 4:05.24 to take eighth in the first heat, a time that would ultimately hold up across two more races to earn her a berth to tomorrow's semifinal at 7:35 p.m. local (2:35 p.m. EDT). The time is exactly a full second faster than her previous best from the 2017 campaign, run two months ago in South Carolina.
This marks the second World Championships in a row for Sifuentes in which she made the semifinal round. She will race for her first career IAAF World Championships finals berth, which would take place Monday at 4:50 p.m.
Sifuentes missed garnering an automatic berth by two spots in the standings and half a second, as only the top six finishers from each heat were guaranteed bids to the semifinals. The six fastest seventh-place-or-lower finishers from across all three heats -- including Sifuentes -- all also earned berths.
In her heat, she was able to hold off three runners who finished within three-quarters of a second of her time in ninth through 11th. That strong finish proved pivotal, as only one of them -- Zoe Buckman of Australia -- managed to join Sifuentes in the next round, finishing just .20 of a second back.
Great SB for @umich alum @ndsifuentes. Should get her through to the semi-final on time. #GoBlue
— Nick Willis (@nickwillis) August 4, 2017
The sixth-and-final non-automatic qualifier finished just .32 of a second arear of Sifuentes in the standings, as Sarah McDonald of Great Britain ran 4:05.48 to take ninth in the third heat.
Sifuentes, a national champion and 10-time All-American during her time at Michigan (2005-08), is one of three former U-M standouts competing in these Championships. Nick Willis and Tiffany Porter will represent their respective nations of New Zealand and Great Britain in the men's 1,500-meter and women's 100-meter hurdles competitions.
Willis, a two-time Olympic medalist and IAAF Indoor medalist who amassed two national titles at five All-America honors during his Michigan career (2003-05), is aiming for his first-ever top-three finish at the outdoor IAAF World Championships. A fixture at the IAAF World Championships having competed in five of the last six editions, Willis has twice been a top-10 finisher during that time, taking sixth in 2015 and 10th in 2007.
His sixth Worlds appearance kicks off next Thursday at 8:25 p.m. local time (3:25 p.m. EDT) with the preliminary rounds, followed by potential appearances in the semifinals on Friday (August 11) at 8:10 p.m. local time (3:10 p.m. EDT) and the final on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. EDT) in what will be the final individual race of the championships.
Start lists for the men's 1,500-meter competition have not yet been announced.
Porter will be the final Wolverine to begin her pursuit of international glory, with both the preliminary and semifinal rounds of her signature 100-meter hurdles event taking place Friday (August 11) at 10:45 a.m. local (5:45 am EDT) and 7:05 p.m. (2:05 p.m. EDT), respectively.
A five-time national champion during her Michigan career (2006-09), Porter has gone on to great success at the world level. She has finished top-five at the IAAF World Championships in each of the last three editions of the meet -- highlighted by a bronze in 2013 -- to go along with a silver and a pair of bronze medals at the IAAF Indoor World Championships. She qualified to each of the past two Olympic Games, finishing seventh in Rio last summer.
Should Porter make it through both rounds on Friday, she would advance to Saturday's final at 8:05 p.m. local (3:05 p.m. EDT).
Start lists for the women's 100-meter hurdles competition have not yet been announced.
