LSU alumnae Duncan places sixth in World 200m Final

LSU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
For Immediate Release – August 11, 2017

LONDON – Lining up in her first career final at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics on Friday night, former NCAA Champion sprinter Kimberlyn Duncan crossed the finish line in sixth place in the women’s 200-meter dash when she sprinted to a time of 22.59 seconds out of Lane 9 on the London Stadium track.

Duncan was the fifth former LSU Track & Field athlete to line up in a final at this year’s World Championships as she closed out her most successful international championship as a member of Team USA.

Dafne Schippers of The Netherlands defended her World 200-meter title with a gold-medal-winning seasonal best of 22.05 (+0.8) as she outlasted Marie-Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast to the finish line for the victory. Ta Lou, already the 100-meter silver medalist from her runner-up finish in Sunday’s sprint final, added her second silver medal of the championship with a runner-up time of 22.08. Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo won a bronze medal with her run of 22.15 as she joined Schippers and Ta Lou on the podium.

Duncan was also separated from the medal places by Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith as the fourth-place finisher with a seasonal best of 22.22 and Team USA teammate Deajah Stevens as the fifth-place finisher with a time of 22.44. Rounding out the finalists were Canada’s Crystal Emmanuel in seventh place at 22.60 and Bahamas’ Tynia Gaither in eighth place at 23.07.

Duncan has turned her fortunes around since returning to train with LSU head coach Dennis Shaver last fall as she qualified for the World Championships for the first time since her debut in Moscow in 2013. She won a total of seven NCAA sprint titles and the 2013 U.S. Outdoor title in the 200 meters with Shaver’s coaching from 2010-13.

Former LSU teammate Charlene Lipsey also highlighted Friday’s action at the London Stadium by advancing to her first career World final when she advanced on time in the women’s 800-meter semifinals.

Lipsey clocked the fourth-fastest time of the round as she placed third in the second semifinal heat with a run of 1 minute, 59.35 seconds to earn Lane 8 in the final to run Sunday at 2:10 p.m. CT. The 2017 U.S. Outdoor Silver Medalist will be joined in the final by the likes of South Africa’s Caster Semeya (1:58.90), USA’s Ajee Wilson (1:59.21), Poland’s Angelika Cichocka (1:59.32), Great Britain’s Lynsey Sharp (1:59.47), Canada’s Melissa Bishop (1:59.56), Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba (2:01.11) and Kenya’s Margaret Nyairera Wambui (2:01.19).