Paris Olympics: Kiran Pahal finishes 7th in 400m Heat 5, to try her luck in repechage

Paris : Indian quarter-miler Kiran Pahal finished seventh in women's 400m Heat 5 and failed to claim a direct qualification berth into the semifinals here on Monday. The Indian clocked 52.51 seconds and finished seventh out of eight runners and overall 40th. She will now take part in the repechage section and have another shot at making the semifinals.

The top three runners in each heat advanced to the semifinal, while all others advanced to the repechage round for another chance to qualify. The women’s 400m repechage round is scheduled for Tuesday at 2:50 pm (IST).

Kiran punched her ticket for Paris in the women's 400m during the Inter-State Athletics last month. She ran a blistering pace to clock 50.92 seconds to better the Paris Olympic Games qualification time of 50.95 on the opening day of the event. Kiran has also emerged as the second-fastest Indian female 400m runner of all time. Notably, Hima Das holds the national record of 50.79 seconds clocked in 2018.

Kiran Pahal is the first Indian female quarter-miler to have qualified for the Olympic Games after a gap of eight years since Nirmal Sheoran (Haryana) qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games.

After Neeraj Chopra bagged a historic maiden gold medal in the javelin throw for India in Tokyo, the country has high hopes from its athletes in the Paris Olympics.

So far, no Indian athlete has qualified for the final in the Paris Olympics.