Former Hawkeye sprinter Brittany Brown earned her spot in the women’s 200-meter dash semifinal tomorrow upon winning the fifth heat of round one in the Paris Olympics today.
The Claremont, California, native by way of Iowa City for her collegiate track career finished the race in 22.38 seconds, winning heat five by just three-tenths of a second over Lanae-Tava Thomas of Jamaica, who finished the heat in second place and also advanced.
Brown, representing the U.S. now and as a silver medalist at the 2019 World Championships at Doha, Qatar, thus held the fourth-fastest time in the round, in total finishing behind:
- Gabrielle Thomas of the U.S. in 22.20 seconds in heat two
- Favour Ofili of Nigeria in 22.24 seconds in heat six
- Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain in 22.28 seconds in heat six
Brown thus avoids the repechage round tomorrow and will look to replicate her success in one of the three semifinal heats tomorrow at 1:45 p.m., 1:54 p.m., and 2:03 p.m. CT.
Back on the basketball court, Tomi Taiwo — who played for the Hawkeyes from 2018 to 2022 before transferring to TCU — and the Nigerian women’s basketball team will compete in the quarterfinals after today’s 79-70 win over Canada.
The win put Nigeria at 2-1 in Group B play, advancing to the elimination round and thus becoming the first African country — men’s or women’s — to do so in the Olympic sport.
But Taiwo has not seen much playing time with the team, today recording just one minute on the court and not attempting a single shot despite a turnover.
