LONDON, England — Jamaica’s Aisha Praught-Leer easily qualified for the final of the women’s 3,000m steeplechase after clocking a relaxed 9:26.37 minutes for fourth in her heat here at the Olympic Stadium last night.

Praught-Leer, 27, became only the third Jamaican to reach the final after trendsetters Korene Hinds and Mydrea Hyman, who finished fourth and eighth, respectively, the first year the event was introduced at the World Championships in 2005. In fact, Praught-Leer’s time would have won her bronze that year.

Her time into the final was the fourth fastest as her 9:26.37 was quicker than the other two heat winners and she was more than pleased with her display which she described as fun.

“It’s fun. Training is going pretty good this year and I want to do something big and I just want to keep rolling and see what I can do,” said a beaming Praught-Leer.

Praught-Leer, who looked as if she can lower the national record of 9:19.29 minutes in the final, said she has more in the tank.

“It’s crazy because last year if you would have told me I would be running 9:26 minutes so easily I would say, ‘No, not sure about that’. But that’s how I am feeling right now and I am feeling pretty good about it,” she said, shivering from cold as she stood barefooted on the wet surface.

In her debut for Jamaica at the Beijing World Championships after gaining Jamaican citizenship in 2015, Praught-Leer was disqualified. Then at the Rio 2016 Olympics, she was involved in a three-person incident that hampered her progress. In that incident, Praught-Leer, Etenesh Diro of Ethiopia and Sara Louise Treacy of Ireland were left lying on the track.

Diro became a celebrity for finishing that heat, running the last laps after the incident wearing only one shoe. All three athletes had advanced to the final, where Praught beat Diro to finish in 14th place.

She remembers the drama-filled event vividly.

“Sometimes you just got to pay your dues until you can get through and hopefully things are smooth and steeplechase is fun because of that. But I feel like I am mastering it and think like, ‘That won’t happen again’,” she pointed out.

“Realistically, if I look at the top times I am not really a medal contender at this point, but I really want to be sixth. But I know in Jamaica they are used to winning medals, but it’s a step ladder and for me sixth is a big deal because we are entering a time of the best steeplechase in history, and if I am sixth in two days, I would be pretty excited about that,” she added.

— Howard Walker