Tabarie Henry qualifies for World 400m final
Aug 29, 2011 | Track and Field
DAEGU, South Korea -- Texas A&M senior Tabarie Henry advanced to the finals of the 400 meters during Monday's third day of action at the IAAF World Championships. Henry surged to the finish line, moving from fifth place to second over the final 40 meters to secure an automatic qualifying position for Tuesday's final.
Henry, who finished fourth at the 2009 World Championships for the U.S. Virgin Islands, posted a time of 45.53 to finish behind the 45.20 from Grenada's Kirani James. After moving up three places on the stretch run Henry still needed a lean at the finish to take second place away from Chris Brown of the Bahamas, who ran 45.54 for third and missed qualifying for the final on time.
"I'm in the finals and that was my goal," stated Henry. "I had to dip my way in. I didn't know what place I was in when I dipped at the finish. It was a strong headwind coming into the final 100 meters of the race. I'm blessed to make the finals again at the World Championships.
"I felt great all day. My warm-up went well and coach Vince Anderson watched all my drills and blocks and said he was pleased. I set the race up well. When I came off the curve I saw about four guys ahead of me, so I just kept digging and just dipped at the line."
For the final on Tuesday (7:45 a.m. local time on www.universalsports.com), Henry will be in lane seven between a pair of twin brothers, Kevin (lane six) and Jonathan Borlee (lane eight) from Belgium, who competed collegiately for Florida State.
"I don't feel too bad about lane seven," noted Henry. "I had that lane in Berlin for the 2009 World finals and again today for the semifinal. So, it must be a good sign. The twins are tough, I just have to run my race in the final and don't look back."
Another Aggie in the semifinal, Demetrius Pinder of the Bahamas, had a tough assignment in the final heat stationed in lane one. A solid start and strong effort on the backstretch placed Pinder in fourth as the field reached the 300-meter mark. On the run to the finish, though, Pinder was passed by a couple of runners and placed seventh in 45.87 to finish 15th out of the field of 24 runners.
Both time qualifiers, Grenada's Rondell Bartholomew (45.17) and Qatar's Femi Gounod (45.41) came out of the third semifinal that Pinder contested.
Defending champion LaShawn Merritt, who recorded a world-leading time of 44.35 in the opening round on Sunday, led qualifiers with a 44.76 and is the only American in the final.
Pinder was one of three Bahamas sprinters to reach the semifinal stage of the 400, but none advanced to the final. That group will run the 4x400 relay later in the week and likely contend for a medal.
Aries Merritt advanced to the finals of the 110 hurdles with a third-place finish in the opening heat of two semifinal races. The time of 13.32 for Merritt, who trains at Texas A&M, matched the time of Cuba's Dayron Robles in second place as China's Liu Xiang won the race in 13.31 into a -1.4 headwind.
In the final Merritt tied for fifth place with a time of 13.67, matching William Sharman of Great Britain.
"It was probably the worst race of my career," said Merritt. "I hit hurdle three and four, and almost went down. I was completely out of it at that point. When you hit hurdles at this level, there's no recovery. It's impossible to get back in the game."
Robles initially won the final in 13.14 seconds. Later Robles was disqualified when China protested that he had obstructed Liu Xiang.
American Jason Richardson, a Texas native who was born in Houston and grew up in Cedar Hill, earned the gold medal with a 13.16 while Liu took silver in 13.27 and Andy Turner of Great Britain moved into bronze medal position at 13.44.
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