KRISTINA Knott sustained her drive for an Olympic slot yesterday with strong runner-up finishes in the women’s 100 and 200-meter runs against an elite cast in the 11th International Castiglione athletic meet in Castiglione, Italy.
Given a six-day respite from her last meet, Knott was in competitive shape for both events, capping her day by clocking 23.19 seconds in the 200-meter dash behind Ivorian track star Marie-Josee’ Ta Lou, who ruled the race in 22.88 seconds. Italy’s Irene Siragusa was third in 23.55.
A Southeast Asian Games double gold medalist, Knott also had a fine run in the century sprint, clocking 11.30 seconds behind Talou, a 2019 world championship bronze medalist in the same event in Doha, Qatar, (10.96), while Frenchwoman Cynthia Le Duc settled for third (11.39).
Knott’s clocking in the 200 was just slightly off her national mark of 23.01 seconds set in the 30th SEA Games two years ago and a shade over the Olympic qualifying standard of 22.80 seconds.
Her time in the 100 was three-tenths of a second above her national standard of 11.27 booked at the Drake Blue Oval meet in Des Moines, Iowa in August 2019 and .15 of a second over the Olympic qualifying cut of 11.15 seconds.
American coach Rohsaan Griffin said he was pleased with how Knott performed in windy racing conditions and considering there was 45-minute interval between her races.
