Aussie Liz Clay has heart broken after Olympic-sized mess

Liz Clay was shattered to just miss out on an Olympic final after her semi was marred by a series of messy missteps nobody could understand.

Liz Clay’s prayers went unanswered. Picture: Alex Coppel. .

Liz Clay was devastated to narrowly miss out on a spot in the 100m hurdles final after her semi was plagued by a series of false starts.

The Aussie star smashed out a personal best of 12.71 seconds to finish third in her race. She was hoping to be among the two quickest third-placed finishers across the three semi-finals but she had her heart broken.

Andrea Carolina Vargas finished third in the first semi, going just 0.02 seconds quicker than Clay, and Dutchwoman Nadine Visser clocked 12.63 in the last semi to crush the Australian’s dream. Vargas and Visser made it through to the decider but Clay didn’t.

There were three attempts to get the second 100m hurdles semi-final of the night underway because of multiple false starts that caused plenty of drama and confusion on the blocks. The first false start was called even though all the runners appeared to hold their place.

Technology that measures pressure on the blocks is used to determine when there’s a false start, but none of the runners in Clay’s race were found to have broken early.

They regathered themselves and after a long wait, settled into position again. However, lightning struck twice even though nobody was guilty of a false start. The amount of time it was taking between false starts was also proving a problem.

“Whatever is happening it has to be sorted out because if we have a situation like this in the final of this race or the (men’s) 100m final tonight (it will be a disaster),” Channel 7’s Bruce McAvaney said.

“And then a long delay after the break. Too long that delay of six or seven minutes. This is messy.”

Social media was flooded with exasperated viewers wondering what the heck was happening on the start line.

Sports reporter and presenter Sam Squiers tweeted: “What the hell! This is ridiculous — they’ve started this race 3 times and called it back!! Hopefully doesn’t rattle Liz Clay too much!”

Sports journalist Alexander Grant described the early drama as “insanity”.

Vince Rugari said: “How hard is it to get right?”

So close yet so far. Picture: Alex Coppel. .

Clay was shattered to miss out on the final by the barest of margins.

“It hurts a lot. I know I’m good enough to be there,” Clay told Seven. “I dealt with those false starts pretty well I thought.

“It really hurts. I don’t have much more to say other than that. I’ve worked really hard to get here. To miss out by 0.08 or something is pretty cr*p.”

Clay also addressed the false start dramas.

“There was unsteadiness in the blocks for a few of them. I think a starter’s gun error in one of them,” she said.

“It is my first major, to hold my cool through that and run a PB, I’m still proud of myself but I wanted it so bad. I can’t believe I didn’t get there to be honest.

“As I said, it has been such a long journey to get here. I’ve had a lot of support along the way, my coaches and my family have been amazing. Every time I’ve stepped out on to this track, I’ve felt at home.

“Look out in three years, I’m going to be in the final in Paris.”

Clay ran a PB in Tokyo. Picture: Alex Coppel. .

Originally published as Aussie Liz Clay has heart broken after Olympic-sized mess