Current:Home > MarketsMarathon runner Sharon Firisua competes in 100m at 2024 Paris Olympics-LoTradeCoin
Marathon runner Sharon Firisua competes in 100m at 2024 Paris Olympics
View Date:2024-12-24 07:16:49
Sharon Firisua’s 2024 Paris Olympics were a sprint. She probably would have preferred a marathon.
The Solomon Islands’ top marathon runner tackled her first sprint race in the women’s 100-meter on Friday on track and field’s biggest stage. Firisua, 30, decided to chase her Olympic dreams no matter the event, and the Olympics’ wildcard system allowed her to do just that.
Usually a distance runner, Firisua competed in the 5,000m in the 2016 Rio Olympics and the marathon in 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she placed 72nd with a time of 3:02:10. This time around, though, she used the starting blocks for the first time, finishing last in the 100m preliminary round with a personal best time of 14.31.
➤ Get Olympics updates in your texts! Join USA TODAY Sports' WhatsApp Channel
Firisua holds the Solomon Islands’ record in the mile, 3000m, 3000m steeplechase, 5000m, 10,000m and marathon and was the country’s flag bearer in Tokyo and Paris.
2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.
When Firisua failed to qualify for Paris in the marathon, Solomon Islands officials awarded her the nation’s sole wildcard spot in the women’s 100m competition, the AP reported. Wildcard spots, or universality places, are allocated to smaller, underrepresented nations at the Olympics to allow some of their athletes to compete even if they fail to meet the other qualifying requirements.
Firisua is just one of two athletes representing the Solomon Islands. The South Pacific nation also sent swimmer Isabella Millar.
However, while Firisua’s participation certainly made for a compelling narrative it did not come without controversy. The nation’s leading sprinters questioned why they had been snubbed in favor of Firisua, who had never competed a distance below 1500m at the top level.
Jovita Arunia, a sprinter from the Solomon Islands whose 100m season best of 13.15 seconds is over one second faster than Firisua’s, voiced frustration with the selection process.
“We're the (actual) sprinters ... I don't know what went wrong, it's unbelievable," Arunia told ABC Australia. “I will not compete anymore because of what they did.”
The USA TODAY app brings you every Team USA medal — right when it happens. Download for full Olympics coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and much more.
veryGood! (4432)
Related
- Justice Department sues to block UnitedHealth Group’s $3.3 billion purchase of Amedisys
- Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's 15-Year-Old Daughter Vivienne Looks So Grown Up on Red Carpet
- What to know about Elon Musk’s ‘free speech’ feud with a Brazilian judge
- Tennessee lawmakers send bill to ban first-cousin marriages to governor
- Diamond Sports Group can emerge out of bankruptcy after having reorganization plan approved
- US airlines ask the Biden administration not to approve additional flights between the US and China
- Washington man pleads guilty to groping woman on San Diego to Seattle flight
- Kansas City Chiefs’ Rashee Rice surrenders to police on assault charge after high-speed crash
- What Republicans are saying about Matt Gaetz’s nomination for attorney general
- Maryland 'Power couple' wins $2 million with 2 lucky tickets in the Powerball drawing
Ranking
- Eminem, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, N.W.A. and Janet Jackson get Songwriters Hall of Fame nods
- Police say fentanyl killed 8-year-old Kentucky boy, not an allergic reaction to strawberries
- Average long-term US mortgage rate edges closer to 7%, rising to highest level since early March
- Poland has a strict abortion law — and many abortions. Lawmakers are now tackling the legislation
- 'Underbanked' households more likely to own crypto, FDIC report says
- Man accused of lighting fire outside Bernie Sanders’ office had past brushes with the law
- US airlines ask the Biden administration not to approve additional flights between the US and China
- Kathy Hilton's Update on Granddaughter London's Sweet New Milestones Will Have You Sliving
Recommendation
-
'Bizarre:' Naked man arrested after found in crawl space of California woman's home
-
Biden announces new steps to deepen military ties between the U.S. and Japan
-
Taylor Swift's music is back on TikTok a week before the release of 'Tortured Poets'
-
Phoenix officer fired over 2022 fatal shooting of a rock-throwing suspect
-
The Daily Money: Inflation is still a thing
-
20 years later, Abu Ghraib detainees get their day in US court
-
Deadly explosion at Colorado apartment building was set intentionally, investigators say
-
Maryland 'Power couple' wins $2 million with 2 lucky tickets in the Powerball drawing