Hilton advances to Olympic Trial semifinals
Hilton's 10.19 100m dash places fifth in his heat in first round of preliminaries
EUGENE, Ore. — Coby Hilton placed fifth in the fourth heat of the men’s 100-meter dash at the United States Olympic Track and Field trials on Saturday, advancing him to the next round of the trials on Sunday.
In the first of three qualifying rounds, Hilton ran an official time of 10.19 to advance to the event’s semifinals. His fellow Tracksmith runner Elijah Hall-Thompson and unattached Ameer Webb finished less than one hundredth of a second ahead of him. To be exact, Webb clocked in at 10.182, Hall-Thompson at 10.184 and Hilton at 10.188.
Nike’s Christian Coleman and Cooper Bibbs of S.H.A.R.K.S Athletic Club took first and second at 9.99 and 10.14 respectively.
The top five runners in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinals, as well as the next two fastest runners regardless of heat.
Out of the 37 qualified runners, Hilton’s time ranked 19th. Adidas’ Noah Lyles had the fastest time at 9.92 followed by three consecutive Nike athletes with Coleman at 9.99 and Kenny Bednarek and Courtney Lindsey each clocking in at 10.00.
In Sunday’s semifinals, the two two runners from each heat along with the next three fastest runners will advance to the finals. The 100-meter semifinal is scheduled for 7:48 p.m. with the final slated for 9:26 p.m. The top three runners from the final will represent the United States at the Paris Olympics in July. The runners must have also met the Olympic standard of 10.00 to qualify. In addition to Lyles, Coleman, Bednarek and Lindsey, other runners who have met the standard in the qualifying window are Fred Kerley, Kendal Williams, Brandon Hicklin and Ronnie Baker.