Imranur bows out of World Athletics Championship

Bangladeshi sprinter Imranur Rahman started well in the World Athletics Championship which is taking place in Budapest, Hungary but in the end, he couldn’t make it to the semifinal.

Bangladesh’s fastest man emerged first in the preliminary round in the 100-metre event with a timing of 10.50 seconds.

But on Sunday 12:20am Bangladesh Standard Time, Imranur finished seventh out of eight in the heat and was eliminated from the competition. He took 10.41 seconds in the heat to complete the 100m race.

Imranur’s timing in the World Athletics was far from his best. In Bangkok last month, Imranur took just 10.25 seconds to complete a 100m sprint in the Asian Athletics Championship, which is his personal best timing and a national record.

But Imranur couldn’t better or match his best timing in the World Championship. Olympic gold medallist Italian sprinter Marcel Jacobs was also in Imranur’s heat. He completed the race in 10.15 seconds to come in third in the heat and qualify for the semifinal.

Imranur could’ve had a better timing in his first heat where he finished first, claimed Bangladesh Athletic Federation general secretary Abdur Rakib, who is with Imranur in Budapest.

“It’s a huge achievement for a Bangladeshi athlete to emerge first in a heat at the World Athletics. This is a historic feat. But during the race when Imranur realised that he will finish first, he reduced his speed a bit. That’s why his timing was slightly higher,” said Rakib.

In last year’s World Athletics Championship at Oregon, US, Imranur cleared the preliminary round hurdle in the 100m sprint but couldn’t take part in the next heat due to injury. Last year, he timed 10.47 seconds in the preliminary round.