Kiran Pahal Heads to Repechage Round After Missing 400m Semifinals at Paris Olympics

India's Kiran Pahal failed to secure an automatic spot in the women's 400m semifinal at the Paris Olympics, finishing seventh in her heat. She will now compete in the repechage round. Pahal clocked 52.51 seconds, falling short of her personal best of 50.92 seconds, achieved earlier this year.

India's Kiran Pahal failed to book an automatic semifinal spot in women's 400m after finishing seventh in her heat race of the Paris Olympics on Monday. She will now run in the repechage round.

Kiran, who turned 24 on Monday, clocked 52.51 seconds, well below her season's and personal best of 50.92 seconds.

World champion Marileidy Paulino of Dominica won the heat with a time of 49.42, followed by Aaliyah Butler (50.52) of USA and Susanne Gogl-Walli (50.67) of Austria. The top three in each of the six heats advanced to the semifinal. All the others—except for DNS (Did Not Start), DNF (Did Not Finish), and DQ (Disqualified)—moved to the repechage round to be held on Tuesday.

Pahal earned her spot at the Paris Olympics by clocking her personal best of 50.92 seconds at the National Inter-State Championships in June. A repechage round was introduced in the Paris Olympics for all individual track events from 200m to 1500m, including hurdles. The new format replaced the earlier system where some athletes advanced to the semifinals based on their fastest times, in addition to top finishes in their heats.

Now, only athletes in the top positions automatically qualify while the remaining get a second chance in the repechage heats.