Cray misses semis in world 400m hurdles

MANILA, Philippines - Fil-Am Eric Cray placed sixth in Heat 4 of the 400-meter hurdles and missed the semifinals last night in the IAAF World Championships at National Stadium in Beijing, China.

The Rio Olympics-bound Cray clocked 50.04 seconds and fell short of the Top 4 position that would have sent him straight into the semis.

Turkish Yasmani Coppello won the heat with a national record of 48.89 to tow Estonian Rasmus Magi (49.18), Irish Thomas Barr (49.20) and Chinese Wen Cheng (49.56) into the next round.

Russian Ivan Shablyuyev wound up fifth in  49.56. Cray finished ahead of fancied American Bershawn Jackson (50.14) and Namibian Johannes Maritz (51.10).

Cray’s time also proved short of any of the four semis slots awarded for those who landed outside the Top 4 across the five heats.

Algerian Abdelmalik Lahoulou (49.33) from Heat 1, Jamaican Lefford Green (49.33) from Heat 2, and Kenyan Haron Koech (49.38) and Belgian Michael Bultheel (49.38) from Heat 5 caught the last bus to the semis.

Overall, Cray’s clocking ranked 33rd among 40 bets in the event.