Track & Field - Olympic Games - Athens 2004: Saturday 21 August

Men's 400 metres - semi-finals Result

Three races made up the semi-final stage with Tim Benjamin going in the last race and drawn in lane 7. Only the first two and two fastest losers would reach the final and, realistically, all we could hope for was a personal record. But with the first two races run, it could be seen that a very, very, low 45 second run our man might just squeeze through.

Normally Tim is strong in the final stages of a 400m and when he was not too far down around the final turn there were hopes that he might just do it. But no. Far from the stretch being one of his strengths, on this day he had nothing further to offer and faded to 8th place and a 46.28 clocking. Not at all happy with his performance, Tim didn't feel that his hamstring niggle had affected him in any way and was at a loss in trying to understand what had happened.

Men's 3000 metres Steeplechase Result

Well, you've got to hand it to Justin Chaston. He certainly ran a positive race, fighting hard to keep with the contenders in the third of the three heats. In spite of much chopping and changing in the running order, it wasn't until the very last lap that it began to seem sure that he would not be among the qualifiers. With his face showing signs of the effort, Justin came home in 8:28.35 - pretty close to his season's best.

Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.