BARCELONA, Spain – After receiving only four hours of sleep following his silver-medal winning performance in the 100-meter final on Wednesday night, Tiger freshman Aaron Ernest made his return to Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium on Thursday for the preliminary and semifinal rounds with the men’s 200-meter dash at the 2012 IAAF World Championships in Athletics.
Ernest opened by taking the win in the second of eight qualifying heats with his run of 21.01 seconds with the 10th-fastest time of the first round. He then returned to the track for the evening session and sprinted to the finish line in 21.06 to finish runner-up to Jamaica’s Julian Forte (20.83) in the first semifinal heat.
With each of the three semifinal heats being run into strong headwinds, Ernest advanced to Friday’s event final with the sixth-fastest time of the night into a headwind of 2.8 meters per second.
Ernest has drawn lane No. 9 in Friday’s 200-meter final with his effort in Thursday’s semifinal, as he will now run for his second medal of this year’s meet at 2:30 p.m. CT.
“I just had to get that second spot today,” Ernest said of his automatic qualifying position with his second-place finish in his semifinal heat. “Hopefully I get more than four hours of sleep tonight. After the (100m) medal ceremony, I ‘m going to get back to the hotel as quick as possible, take an ice bath, and hopefully, I will be prepared for tomorrow’s final. I was probably around 90 percent today.
“In the final, I don’t really know what to expect. I hope it’s like the 100 final where I can have my PB and there will be no problems. I’m excited to have this opportunity again.”
After the conclusion of the 200-meter semifinals, Ernest was presented the silver medal he claimed during Wednesday’s 100-meter final in a special medal ceremony as he was joined by gold medalist Adam Gemili of Great Britain and silver medalist Odean Skeen of Jamaica on the award’s podium.
Ernest made history Wednesday night as the first Tiger in program history to win a medal in the sprints as he scored the silver medal in the men’s 100-meter dash while matching his personal record of 10.17 in the final at this year’s World Junior Championships. He joined 2008 World Junior champion Walter Henning as the only LSU Tigers to medal in an individual event as Henning won the hammer throw.
Fellow freshman Andreas Duplantis earned a top-10 finish in his debut at the World Junior Championship after clearing 17 feet, ¾ inches for 10th place in the men’s pole vault.
Duplantis, who set a lifetime PR of 17-5 ½ earlier this season, opened with a second-attempt clearance for the bar at 16-4 ¾ before clearing 16-8 ¾ on his first attempt and 17-0 ¾ on his second attempt. He missed once with the bar at 17-4 ½ and twice after it was raised to 17-6 ½ to lock up 10th place in the final.