Eastern graduate English Gardner advanced to the semis in the 100-meter dash Thursday at the USATF Championships in Eugene.
Gardner, 31, ran 11.13, only 4-100ths of a second off her season-best time of 11.09, which she ran in Miramar, Fla., in April.
The 16-fastest women advanced to the semifinals at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus. The cutoff was 11.15 seconds.
Gardner’s time was 13th-fastest of 33 qualifiers. The top three finishers in each of four races advanced along with the next four-fastest.
Gardner, racing in the fourth and final quarterfinal, placed 3rd in her race to earn an auto qualifier – a big-Q – into the semis.
Her time was slightly wind-aided at 2.1 meters-per-second. Anything over 2.0 is considered wind-aided and not eligible for records and lists, although that really doesn’t matter at this point. Gardner is just trying to advance.
Gardner, an Olympic gold medalist in the 400-meter relay in 2016 and silver medalist in 2021, won U.S. titles in the 100 in 2013 with a 10.85 and in 2016 with a lifetime-best 10.74.
Gardner ranks 10th in world history with her 10.74 from 2016 nationals on the same track. That’s No. 5 in U.S. history.
She’s ranked 26th in the U.S. this year with a wind-legal-best of 11.13 from a meet in Devonshire, Bermuda, in May, so she’s already competing at a much higher level than her seed time.
The semifinals are scheduled for 10:14 p.m. EST on Friday, with eight women advancing – the three-fastest in each of two races and the next two-fastest. The final is scheduled for 11:45 p.m. EST Friday.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 