Divine Oduduru misses out, Bolt on track for ´triple-triple´ after 200m stroll

Divine Oduduru missed out of a place in the Rio 200m finals after finishing 7th with a time of 20.59s in the Semifinal heat 2.

The Nigerian who came 2nd behind Usain Bolt in the Heat 1 to book a place in the Semi-final with a time of 20.34s, fell short in the semifinal. But, Usain Bolt’s bid for a ‘triple-triple’ is a step closer after he breezed into Thursday’s 200 metre final.

Just three days after defending his 100m title in scintillating fashion – Bolt had time to grin for the cameras as he dominated the field – the Jamaican sprint king was at it again inside the Olympic Stadium on Wednesday.

And once again he had a smile on his face.

He won the second semi final in 19.78 seconds, ahead of Canadian Andre De Grasse (19.80secs) – who chose to try and run him down on the line.

The two shared a joke as they crossed the line, with Bolt quipping: “He [De Grasse] was supposed to slow down. I said ‘what are you doing, it’s a semi final’.

“That was really unnecessary. I don’t know what he was trying to do but he’s a young kid, he’s great.

“I think he wanted to push me. I was a bit lazy but I got round.”

Bolt – who alongside the rest of the Jamaican quartet will also bid to defend the 4x100m relay title – said after his 100m triumph he was chasing the chance to be “immortal”, and few would bet against that on current form.

He was already into his stride by the first 50 metres and, although he eased down significantly as he came down the straight, even that was not enough to allow De Grasse to overtake him.

American LaShawn Merritt qualified third fastest in 19.94secs, ahead of Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre in a season’s best 20.01secs.