Tabarie Henry of the U.S. Virgin Islands ran his way into the semifinal of the Olympic 400 meter run Saturday in a photo finish in his preliminary race.
Henry, one of seven athletes from the territory taking part in the London Games, placed fourth in in his heat, and his time of 45.43 seconds was good enough to advance him to the next round. The seminfinals will be run Sunday.
It is the first time the U.S. Virgin Islands has been represented in the semifinals of that event.
Laverne Jones-Ferrette ran in Saturday’s 100 meter semifinals, but had the misfortune to be placed in the same heat as eventual silver and bronze medalists Carmelita Jeter of the U.S.and Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica, who blistered the track on their way to the medals stand. The Virgin Islands sprinter finished fourth with a time of 11.22, missing out on the finals.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, also of Jamaica, ended up taking the gold in that event.
Jones-Ferrette and teammate Allison Peter will run again Tuesday in the women’s 200 meters preliminaries.
Virgin Islanders Mayumi Roller and Cy Thomson competed in the women’s and men’s Laser sailing competition respectively, but neither qualified for the medals race, according to results posted online.
On Tuesday Muhammad Halim will take part in the triple jump prelims.