DOHA (Reuters) – American Daniel Roberts hopes of winning a medal in the 110 meters hurdles at the world athletics championships were almost certainly dashed after he was disqualified for knocking down a rival’s hurdle in the heats on Monday.
However, the U.S. champion, who has recorded the second fastest time of the year, has not completely given up on his medal chances as he was confident the American team would protest the decision.
“It is what it is, it happens,” Roberts said. “Hopefully I’m going into the semis, but if not, I’m going to start getting ready for Tokyo (Olympics in 2020).”
U.S. team mate Grant Holloway won his heat in 13.22 seconds to qualify for the semi-finals.
Spain’s Orlando Ortega recorded the fastest time of 13.15 seconds in qualifying. Sergey Shubenkov, competing as a neutral due to Russia’s ban from international athletics, won his heat with 13.27 seconds.
Omar McLeod of Jamaica won his heat in 13.17 seconds.
The semi-finals and final of the men’s 110m hurdles will take place on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Gene Cherry, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
