Paris, France, August 2, 2024: The Olympic Games are not all about winning. They can be about producing your best performance on the biggest sports stage of all.
This certainly applied to Mariam Al Farsi, a sprinter from the United Arab Emirates, competing in her first Olympic Games at Paris 2024 at the age of 16.
Mariam took part in Heat 2 of the women’s 100 metres preliminary round at the Stade de France on Friday morning; although she finished ninth and last in her heat, she was still able to set a new personal best time of 13.26 seconds.
The United Arab Emirates Olympic Committee acknowledged her achievement in a social media post.
“Mariam Farsi, the runner of our national team, finishes in ninth place in the second round of the 100m race at the Paris Olympics with a time of 13.26 seconds, and ends her participation in the event with a new personal number,” the post said.
The first three in each of the four heats, plus the next five fastest, qualified for the first round.
Turkmenistan’s Valentina Meredova clocked a season’s best 12.01 to finish fourth in her heat and claim one of those five places, while Silina Pha Aphay of Laos also produced a season’s best 12.45 seconds but failed to advance from heat one.
Tran Thi Nhi Yen of Vietnam won heat two in 11.81 and Chinese Taipei’s Zhang Bo-Ya was third in 11.99.
Pakistan’s Faiqa Riaz finished sixth in a personal best 12.49 and Oman’s Mazoon Al Alawi clocked a season’s best 12.58 in seventh place.
In heat three, Qatar’s Shahd Ashraf was seventh in a personal best of 12.53 and Alisar Youssef of Syria was eighth, also in a personal best 12.93. Afghanistan’s Kimia Yousofi was eighth in 13.42.