PARIS, France — Team captain Yona Knight-Wisdom, sprinter Bryan Levell, and long jumper Ackelia Smith advanced in their respective disciplines during Tuesday morning’s session at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, held at the Stade de France and the Olympic Aquatics Centre.
Knight-Wisdom secured a place in the semi-finals of the men’s 3m Springboard diving competition, finishing 14th with a score of 382.90 points. Competing in his third Olympics for Jamaica, Knight-Wisdom’s best dive, a Forward 2 ½ Somersaults 2 twists in Pike position, earned him 73.10 points. However, his Reverse 3 ½ Somersaults in the Tuck position dive garnered his lowest marks, with 43.75 points.
China’s Zoungyuan Wang led the 18 qualifiers with 530.65 points. Knight-Wisdom will return for the semi-final round on Wednesday morning.
In the women’s long jump qualification at the Stade de France, Ackelia Smith achieved a jump of 6.59m, securing fifth place in Group B. Italy’s Larissa Iapichino led the group with 6.87m, followed by Germany’s Malaika Mihambo with 6.86m. Both surpassed the automatic qualifying standard of 6.75m.
Retirement
In Group A, Chanice Porter, another Jamaican representative, finished eighth with 6.48m and subsequently announced her retirement. Other athletes meeting the qualifying mark included American Tara Davis-Woodhall (6.90m) and Nigeria’s Ese Brume (6.76m).
Bryan Levell made it through to the next round as one of the fastest losers in the men’s 200m Repechage Round, clocking 20.47 seconds to finish second behind Canada’s Brendon Rodney (20.42 seconds). However, Andrew Hudson, despite running in the same round, missed out as he placed second in his heat with a time of 20.55 seconds, edged out by Sweden’s Erik Erlandsson who set a personal best of 20.49 seconds.
Meanwhile, Adelle Tracey, despite running a season best of 4:09.33 minutes in the women’s 1500m heats, finished 13th and did not achieve automatic qualification. She will compete in the Repechage Round on Wednesday morning for a final chance to advance to the semi-finals.
