Herne Hill Harriers star middle distance runner Katie Snowden achieved her aim of qualifying for the final of the women’s 1500m in the Commonwealth Games in Australia.
Placing seventh in a very strong first heat on the Gold Coast on Monday was sufficient for Snowden to advance to the final as one of the fastest non automatic qualifiers as her time of 4.08.00 was faster than even the winner of the other heat.
Snowden then followed this up barely 24 hours later by finishing a good eleventh of fourteen in a very fast final that saw South African Caster Semenya set a new National and Games record with a run that pulled the whole field round to quick performances.
After clocking the second fastest time of her still fledgling 1500m racing career of 4.06.55, Snowden commented that she was pretty pleased with her race given the difficulty of handling such a fast pace from the gun at such an early stage in the outdoor season.
“I was delighted to make it into my first senior major championship final and to run a European championship qualifying standard this early on. Hopefully I shall be able to build from this experience this summer and beyond. I just need to go back now and keep working to get into good shape for the main season.”
A technical fault with the starting equipment delayed the start of the race by over ten minutes to add to the tension in front of the large crowd inside the Carrara Stadium.
Snowden certainly proved she was well worth her place on the England team and that she belongs in this sort of company racing at a World class level and will take encouragement from her first senior major championship experience.