Susanne Walli finished 23rd over 400 m at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene. The Upper Austrian ran a time of 52.37 seconds in the semi-finals, falling short of the season’s best of 52.13. However, she had to contest her race on the unfavorable track one. The overall fastest of the 24 semifinalists was double Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo from the Bahamas with 49.55. Also 23rd was Victoria Hudson in the javelin throw.
Hudson retired on Wednesday (local time) in the qualification with 54.05 m. The Lower Austrian ended up in 23rd place among 29 participants. For the third time in a row at a major event following the 2019 World Cup in Doha and the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, she did not make it into the final. Haruka Kitaguchi from Japan was the best in the qualification with 64.32 m.
Hudson invalidated the first attempt, which landed at just under 55 m (“I knew it wouldn’t be enough at all”), she put the second next to the marked field, and left the third at 54.05 m. That put her eleventh following the first of two qualifying groups, but with only the top twelve progressing, the 26-year-old knew that would be far too few.
“There was a strong headwind, but the wind was there when throwing in, and I threw over 60 m. I threw well over 60 in the training stadium before that. And I ran into a wind wall in the same way. I have no idea, I can can’t explain that,” Hudson was deeply disappointed.
