Asian Champion PU Chitra ran her personal best in the women’s 1500m first round heats at the World Athletics Championships in Doha on Wednesday but that was not sufficient to advance further in the event.
The Kerala athlete ran 4:11.10 seconds, to better her earlier personal best of 4:11.55, and finished eighth in heat number two. But the overall pace of the heat was significantly slower than the other two. The top six in each of the three heats and the next six fastest qualify for the semi-finals, which meant none of the runners in Chitra’s heat who finished outside the top six were eligible to progress.
Chitra’s timing was 30th overall out of 35 runners championships, even if she managed to shave more than a second off her best effort this season before the Worlds (4:12.65).
The 24-year-old Chitra had won the Asian Championships gold on the same tracks in April with a time of 4:14.56. Her earlier personal best was during the National Inter-State Championships in Guwahati last year.
Hassan Sifan of the Netherlands, who has already won the 10,000m gold in this championships, led the time charts among the semi-final qualifiers with 4:03.88.
Chitra was the only Indian in action on Wednesday in Doha.
(With PTI inputs)