Team GB athlete uses 1000 IQ move to qualify for Olympic semi-final in dramatic finish to race

Jessie Knight secured her place in the Olympic 400m hurdles semi-final on Monday after a moment of quick-thinking meant she qualified by five-thousandths of a second.

The 30-year-old, from Epsom, failed to qualify for the 400m hurdles semi-final on Sunday after finishing fifth in the heats with a time of 55.39.

But thanks to the newly-introduced repechage round, Knight was handed a second chance at the Stade de France.

At one stage, it looked like she was heading home for good but after catching up, the former primary school teacher beat Gianna Woodruff of Panama by five-thousands of a second to auto-qualify for the semi-finals.

A photo finish was required to determine who finished second, with replays showing Team GB's Knight throwing her arm out as she crossed the line in order to push her torso further forward.

Jessie Knight sneaks through in the second heat pic.twitter.com/4gN2rFoE3Q

— Romanu Vananalagi (@Sky981) August 5, 2024

One fan commented on the race, saying: "Wow. What a comeback. Jessie Knight (team GB) qualified for the finals by 0.005 seconds," while another said: "Brilliant news. She's been through so much to earn her chance."

A third wrote: "Flipping heck that was close!!! Go Jessie Knight!"

As mentioned earlier, it's thanks to the introduction of repechage rounds that Knight has another chance to win gold.

The repechage – which loosely translates to 'second chance' in French – are the only hope for athletes who failed to impress in their first heat at the Olympics.

They give those like Knight another opportunity to earn a medal when they would have previously been knocked out of the competition in the early stages.

The Paris Games is the first Olympics to have repechage rounds, as the move comes after World Athletics (WA) – the sport's governing body – introduced these in some events in 2022.

WA president Sebastian Coe explained the decision, saying: "The repechage rounds will give more exposure to our sport during the peak Olympic period and will be carefully scheduled to ensure that every event on our Olympic programme retains its share of the spotlight."

Previously, there were three stages for athletes to make their way through – the heats, semi-finals and the final – but now there is a fourth round; a last chance saloon for those who fell behind in their heat.