Rio de Janeiro - South African athlete Wenda Nel finished second in her heat to qualify for the semi-finals in the women's 400m hurdles at the Olympic Games on Monday.
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The 28-year-old from Worcester raced down the inside lane to post a time of 55.55s, finishing her heat behind Sara Petersen of Denmark on 55.20s.
Ristananna Tracey of Jamaica leads the standings with a time of 54.88s, followed by Ashley Spencer of the United States with 55.12s and Petersen in third.
The semi-finals are set to take place Tuesday evening in Brazil, or Wednesday morning South African time (02:10).
Meanwhile, in the men’s 110m hurdles, South Africa's Antonio Alkana raced in heat three and advanced.
Alkana hit two of the the three hurdles in his heat to finish fifth, but his 13.64 recorded sent him through as one of the fastest qualifiers as he placed 21st overall. A total of 24 athletes went through to the next round.