As part of athletics events in the 31st edition of Summer Olympics underway in Brazil, Iran’s Taftian competed against runners from Saudi Arabia, Jamaica, Saint Kitts & Nevis, China, Morocco, Cayman Islands and Haiti in the preliminary round of 100m sprint.
Iran’s fastest runner finished third in Heat 3 of preliminaries after clocking 10.17 seconds and secured a place in the semifinal round for the first time in the country’s athletics history.
Taftian is slated to compete against Jimmy Vicaut of France, Jamaica’s Nickel Ashmeade, South Africa’s Akani Simbine, Xie Zhenye from China, Marvin Bracy of the US and Jak Aki Harvey of Turkey in the group 1 of the semifinals.
“I have to wait till the end of the competition since nothing is clear yet,” said Taftian adding “conditions are equal for all athletes in the Olympics and one should spare no effort to gain best results.”
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