TOKYO, Japan – Janieve Russell made it back-to-back Olympic Games finals after she placed second in her semifinals heat of the women’s 400m hurdles in rainy conditions on Monday.

Russell, who was seventh in Rio five years ago and won the Commonwealth Games title in 2018 in Australia, was in third place after seven hurdles but separated herself from the field to finish in 54.10 seconds behind defending champion Dalilah Muhammad of the United States who won in 53.30 seconds. Paulien Coukuyt ran a Belgian national record 54.47 seconds for third.

The women’s 400m hurdles, like the men’s equivalent, is one of the marquee events of the track and field programme where it is expected that it will require a world record to take the gold

It has lived up to expectations with newly-minted world record holder Sydney McLaughlin of the USA (53.03 seconds); Holland’s Femke Bol (53.91 seconds); Gianna Woodruff, who ran a Panamanian national record 54.22 seconds; and a third American, Anna Cockrell (54.17 seconds) all advancing as well.

-Paul A Reid