LIMA, Peru — Despite having to overcome unexpected difficulties, Shanoya Douglas and Sabrina Dockery both qualified for the semi-finals of the women’s 200m at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Lima, Peru on Thursday.

The semi-finals are set for Thursday afternoon starting at 4:50 pm when both athletes aim to stake a claim for a place in Friday’s final.

Douglas suffered stomach cramps and threw up in the mixed zone while Dockery said she felt the effects of lactic acid as she came off the curve.

Douglas won her heat in 23.51 seconds (0.6m/s) while Dockery was second in her’s in 23.80 seconds (-0.9m/s).

A big breakfast might have been Douglas’ main opposition, she claimed, stating, “I ate too much before the race and when I was running, my stomach got shaken up and so afterwards it came back out.”

She had bigger worries though saying she did not execute as she should have.

“I felt like I was the last one out of blocks again, just to my mind I am not sure but it felt like that, so I had to put work into the race, and I didn’t want to put so much in the first round, but I will be OK. I will fix it and come back for the semi-final doing better than what I did in the first heat,” Douglas said.

Meanwhile, Dockery said her race was “pretty okay, yeah, I was a little worried about the weather but it’s ok now, I can work with this”.

She told Observer Online that when she got off the curve, in front, “I kind of get locked in because of the weather, as I am not used to it but it’s not that bad.”

— Paul A Reid