With the athletics portion of the 30th Universiade set to wrap up Saturday at the Stadio San Paola in Napoli, Italy it was a successful weekend for two Lions athletes. Representing the pride were Farah Abdulkarim in the men’s 10,000m and Keira Christie-Galloway in the women’s 100m hurdles.
Abdulkarim, who was running in just his second career 10,000m event, ran like a seasoned veteran, managing the ebbs and flows of international championship distance running with apparent ease. The University of Mississippi student had spent the majority of Tuesday’s race among the leaders before three of the five runners in the lead pack were able to break away with a kilometre to go.
When the pack broke apart, Abdulkarim was unable to respond as the group’s oscillating pace appeared to take the kick out of his legs. He would cross the line fifth in 29 minutes and 43.51 seconds.
In the women’s 100m hurdles, Christie-Galloway was a favourite to make Thursday’s final based on a seasonal best of 13.10 seconds. Unfortunately, for the 19 year old she was unable to regain the form that led to a Big 12 Outdoor Championship or Second Team All-American status at the NCAA Championship. Competing in her 28th race since January, the Iowa State University student finished fifth in her semi-final with a time of 13.46 seconds.
Christie-Galloway’s performance was bested by just a few thousandths of a second by Slovakia’s Stanislava Lajcakova in the second semi-fianl and would settle for a ninth place overall finish. However, for Christie-Galloway the summer of international track will continue as she prepares to don the red and white this August at the Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru.
26 races
