Saraswati does her best, but fails to make grade

Even though Saraswati finished fifth in the six-runner field, she had an outside chance to move up. In a first-four-to-qualify and four best losers format, Saraswati lied at the 33rd spot, missing the cut by one place. The last athlete in was Lucimar Moura of Brazil at 23.40 second. The Indian champion had clocked 23.43.

Into the race, Saraswati had little chance against her much better rivals. Cydonie Mothersill won heat three, which also had Saraswati, in 22.40 which was a national record for Cayman Islands. Cydonie had finished fourth in the World Championship in Edmonton four years ago. She has won two IAAF Grand Prix and an equal number of Super Grand Prix titles this year.

Beverly McDonald of Jamaica, fourth place finisher in Sydney, was also in the same heat. She finished second in 22.90. Saraswati barely had a chance.

With only 11 athletes eliminated from Round 1 and 2, none of the pre-race favourites had any difficulty qualifying for the quarter-finals. American champion Allyson Felix led the field with 22.39.