The Saint Lucian champion and national record holder has ended his participation in the Paris Olympics. Michael Joseph competed in the repechage round of the men’s 400m in Paris, France on Monday morning Caribbean time.
A 44.77-second runner at his best, Joseph owns a handful of national records, including the 400m indoor, outdoor, and junior, the 200m, as well as the indoor 600m. He has not been able to build on his outstanding run of 45.46 indoors in February of this year, however. Typically, an indoor 400m would indicate that a runner would go about a second faster outdoors.
That 45.46, however, remains the best mark of the season for the 21-year-old from Gros Islet.
In Round 1 of the one-lap event, Joseph ran 45.69 to finish eighth in his heat. The top three from each heat advanced to the semifinals. The remaining athletes took part in Monday’s repechage, a second chance to advance.
An innovation for Paris 2024, the repechage gives athletes in events from 200m up a second opportunity to qualify, so that there are no time qualifiers.
In Heat 2 of this round, Joseph improved slightly, running 45.64 to finish fourth. Only the heat winners and the next two fastest went through to the penultimate stage of competition.
Joseph, a former student of Corinth Secondary School, is certainly young enough to have Los Angeles 2028 on his mind. But he will need proper support, planning, and commitment if he hopes to recapture and develop on the sort of form he has enjoyed in the past.
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We are proud of you Micheal!
Congratulations Michael! 🇱🇨 We’re proud of you. I have no doubt that you will be back even better in 2028. May good health and progress be with you 🙏 🇱🇨 🇱🇨 🇱🇨 🇱🇨 🇱🇨
not a bad showing. You have a lot of talent and a bright future. Use this experience to help prepare for the next global competition.