Hawks in the Olympics | Brown wins semifinal heat, looks for gold tomorrow

Her finish of 22.12 seconds was fourth overall.

Colin Votzmeyer, Managing Summer Editor

August 5, 2024

Iowa runner Brittany Brown celebrates after the women’s 4 x 100 meter relay at Drake Stadium on Saturday, April 26, 2014. Iowa won first place in this event. (The Daily Iowan/Joshua Housing)

Former Hawkeye sprinter Brittany Brown qualified for the women’s 200-meter dash final on Tuesday after winning semifinal three on Monday in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Brown, representing the U.S. as she hails from Claremont, California, competed for the Hawkeyes from 2014 to 2018 before turning professional and signing a contract with Adidas and, most recently, Nike.

Now, she’ll have a shot at the prized gold medal as she competes in the event final tomorrow at 2:40 p.m. CT.

Brown finished her semifinal run in 22.12 seconds, beating the likes of Daryll Neita of Great Britain and Jessika Gbai of Côte d’Ivoire to win it.

Out of the three semifinal heats, her time was fourth overall — behind Gabrielle Thomas of the U.S. in 21.86, Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia in 21.98, and Favour Ofili of Nigeria in 22.05 — meaning Brown will likely need a sub-22-second race for a shot at a podium finish.