Asian championships gold medalist Robyn Brown got blown away by the opposition when she wound seventh in the heats of the women’s 400-meter hurdles Monday night (Tuesday morning in Manila) in 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Brown, a Filipino-American, clocked 56.83 seconds in the second round of the heats as she missed out on the top four and a spot in the semifinal phase.
Janieve Russell of Jamaica submitted a time of 54.33 seconds while Anna Cockrell of the United States placed second on the strength of her 54.68 seconds clocking.
Gianna Woodruff of Panama was third with a time of 55.31 seconds and Canada’s Savannah Sutherland was fourth with a 55.85 seconds effort.
Also at stake was an outright berth to the 2024 Paris Olympics but Brown’s performance was too slow given that the Olympic qualifying time was 54.85 seconds.
Earlier, Eric Cray, another Filipino-American, also failed to advance after landing seventh with a 50.27 clocking.
Brown’s inability to advance leaves world No. 3 pole vaulter EJ Obiena as the lone medal hopeful for the Philippine team.
Obiena is expected to breeze through the elimination phase on Wednesday and should be one of the top favorites when the final is held on 27 August.
Also taking part in the event are Olympic and world champion Armand Duplantis, world No. 2 Christopher Nilsen and Sam Kendricks of the United States, Sondre Guttormsen of Norway and Menno Vloon of the Netherlands.
Rio de Janeiro Olympics champion Thiago Braz of Brazil, who recently flunked a doping test, and KC Lightfoot, another American vaulter, are not listed.
Obiena is using the Budapest worlds as a warmup for his stint in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, scheduled 22 September to 8 October.
Last July, Obiena became the first Filipino to qualify for the Paris Olympics when he saw action in the Diamond League in Stockholm.
