SINGAPORE: Shanti Pereira’s quest to make her second consecutive women’s 200m semi-finals at the World Athletics Championships came to an end on Wednesday (Sep 17).
At the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo, Pereira clocked a time of 23.13s to finish fourth in her heat and 30th overall, missing out on qualification for the next stage of the event. The Singaporean was the second-fastest Asian competitor.
The top three from each of the six heats moved on to the semi-finals, along with the athletes from the rest of the field with the six fastest times.
Pereira’s heat was won by Anavia Battle of the United States, whose time of 22.07s was the quickest overall.
“Definitely hoped to see a better time and classification today – it does sting not making the (semi-finals) this time round,” Pereira said after her race.
“But overall, I’m happy with how I showed up to the stage and, most importantly, I’m healthy and I had the honour of representing my country yet again on the world stage. That will always be special to me.”
She added that she would be taking “a bit of a break” before she begins preparations for the upcoming SEA Games, which will be held in Thailand from Dec 9 to Dec 20.
This is the second consecutive edition of the competition where Pereira qualified on merit. The reigning 200m Asian Games gold medalist made history in 2023 by becoming the first Singaporean to progress past the heats.
Her time of 22.57s clocked at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest during that year’s meet still stands as a national record.
Pereira eventually placed 17th overall in the semi-finals.
After a difficult 2024, which saw her struck by injury, Pereira clocked the third-fastest time in Asia in May this year (22.81s).
Soon after, she clinched two silvers at the Asian Championships, in the 100m and 200m.
At the same meet, Pereira also combined with Elizabeth-Ann Tan, Shannon Tan and Laavinia Jaiganth to set a new national record in the women’s 4x100m relay final.
