By sportsnewsarena correspondent
Aug 09, 2017
Botswana's Isaac Makwala only had the clock, an empty track and the crowd behing him as he took his place on the blocks on lane seven, a lonely 200m heat in the drenching rain.
Makwala clocked 20.20 on his originally assigned lane seven. In the semi-finals, he will run on lane one.
After the race which was 0.35 seconds faster than what was required of him, Makwala did a few push-ups.
He was forced to run solo after the IAAF has received a written request from the Botswanan federation for him to compete in the 200 metres.
A statement from the IAAF read: The IAAF has received a written request ffrom the Botswanan federation for Isaac Makwala to compete in the 200 metres.
Given his quarantine period expired at 14:00 hrs today (9 Aug) and following a medical examination which has declared him fit to compete, we have agreed under our existing rules that assuming he makes the qualification time, he will run in the 200m semi-final round this evening.
Makwala is required to run a time of 20.53 or faster to advance to the semi-finals. He will run at 18:40hrs this evening on his own in lane 7, which was his original lane draw in the opening round.
No athletes already qualified for the semi-final will be adversely affected.
