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Ngirchongor gets PBT at World Champs
The CNMI’s Beouch Ngirchongor broke the 24-second barrier in the 200m qualifying run in the 15th IAAF World Championships last Tuesday at the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, China to earn a personal best time.
The CNMI’s Beo Ngirchongor, left, and Brazil’s Bruno De Barros check their times after completing the 200m qualifying run in the 15th IAAF World Championships last Tuesday at the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, China. (Contributed Photo)
Ngirchongor completed the race in 23.93 seconds to shatter his previous PBT of 24.29 seconds registered during the Pacific Games in Papua New Guinea last month. He was on Heat 2, Lane 9, of the qualifying run and finished ninth in his group. Panama’s Alonso Edward won the heat with a time of 20. 11 seconds to make it to the next round along with the Netherland’s Churandy Martina (20.22 seconds), France’s Christophe Lemaitre (20.29), and Japan’s Kei Takase (20.33). Rounding out the heat were Brazil’s Bruno De Barros (20.42), Nigeria’s Tega Odele (20.49), Zimbabwe’s Tatenda Tsumba (21.21), and Montenegro’s Luka Rakic (21.86).
There were seven qualifying heats in the 200m run with 24 participants advancing to the semifinals. Turkmenistan’s Ramil Guliyev posted the fastest qualifying time at 20.01 seconds, beating the 20.19 of the United States’ Justin Gatlin, who topped Heat 4, and the 20.28 of Heat 3 winner Usain Bolt of Jamaica. The semis round of the event was set last night (10:30pm Saipan time) with the 24 qualifiers divided into three heats and the Top 2 finishers in each heat and the next two fastest (combined three groups) racing in the medal round tonight.
The World Championships will run until this weekend and at press time, Kenya is ahead in the medal standings with its four gold medals, three silvers, and two bronzes. Great Britain has earned three gold medals for second place, followed by Jamaica (two gold medals and one bronze), Germany (1-2-1 tally) and Ethiopia (1-2-0). The U.S. is in solo sixth place with one gold, one silver, and four bronzes.
Meanwhile, Northern Marianas Athletics president Ramon Tebuteb joined Ngirchongor in Beijing to attend the International Association of Athletics Federations Congress, which elected a new president in Great Britain’s Sebastian Coe last Aug. 20.
The Brit won over Ukraine’s Serhiy Nazarovych Bubka, 115-92, to take over the IAAF leadership from outgoing president Lamine Diack of Senegal.
