Fifth global final in five years as British captain Eilidh Doyle leads by example at London 2017
University of Bath-based Eilidh Doyle believes “anything can happen” after she booked her place in Thursday’s 400m hurdles final at the London 2017 IAAF World Athletics Championships.
The British Athletics Team Captain, coached by Brian Doyle at the Sports Training Village, produced another strong performance from the outside lane to claim third place in her semi-final on Tuesday in 55.33.
That time was quick enough to secure one of the two fastest loser places on offer across the three semi-finals and put Doyle into her fifth global 400m hurdles final in as many years.
“I saw the results from the first two semis, so I knew the times didn’t seem to be too fast out there,” she said. “Obviously I wanted to get top two and secure that qualification but I knew if I could try and run as fast as I could, I could maybe sneak in.
“The hurdles have been wide open this year. It’s been that close where you could run a personal best and have not made that final or you could be in there and win a medal – with hurdles anything can happen.
“It’s just about who executes the best race on that night, who gets the strides right, who nails the hurdles and who doesn’t make mistakes. When that happens it’s anybody’s and at least I put myself in the final where I can be in contention to do that.”
🇬🇧 The skipper is leading by example. 👊#London2017 #bbcathletics https://t.co/To5AHIcRa9 pic.twitter.com/MD1RbwM55C
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 8, 2017
The final will take place at 9.35pm on Thursday and will be shown live on BBC1.
University of Bath Sports Performance graduate Danny Talbot is also hoping to be racing in a final on Thursday – his 200m semi-final takes place at 9.13pm on Wednesday, where he will once again line up against South Africa’s Wayde Van Niekerk who won 400m gold on Tuesday.
Click here for more information about the athletics programme at the University of Bath.
