Singaporean sprinter makes history with world championship qualification

Pereira secured her place at the tournament in Budapest, Hungary, thanks to her world ranking in the women’s 100m and 200m run. She’s the first Singaporean to do so since 2011, The Strait Times reported.

There are a few ways to qualify for the World Athletics Championships, such as meeting the standard by the deadline on July 30, or by world rankings position.

There are 48 spots each for the 100m and 200m event. For the 100m event, 24 athletes met the qualifying standard of 11.08 seconds and the rest booked their place by their world rankings.

The personal best result of Pereira is 11.20 seconds. But she qualified as the 36th-highest entrant thanks to her 49th position in the 100 m world rankings.

For the 200m event, 26 sprinters met the qualifying standard of 22.60 seconds. The rest qualified through their world rankings position, including Pereira, whose personal best is 22.69 seconds.

Pereira has competed in the three previous editions of world championships but only as a wild card.

The 26-year-old had a great run in 2023. After winning two gold medals at the SEA Games 32 in Cambodia in May, she won a historic gold at the 2023 Asian Championships in July.

On July 30, Pereira defeated European champion Gina Luckenkemper of Germany at the Mittsommernacht Athletics meet in Berlin to win gold.

She did it again at the Folksam Grand Prix in Malmo, Sweden, earlier this month.

The World Athletics Championships will take place August 19-27.