Switzerland pins hopes on lucky 13 for Sydney
At least 13 Swiss athletes have now qualified for the Sydney Olympics, following the success of the 4 x 400 men's relay team on Sunday.
The relay team missed the qualifying time by 100th of a second on Friday at the Weltklasse meeting in Zurich. But, at another meeting in La Chaux de Fonds, the team made the grade, largely thanks to Alain Rohr.
Rohr recorded the best Swiss time this year over 400 metres covering the distance in 45:77 – half a second quicker than the Olympic qualifying time. It was also his personal best time.
The 4 x 400 metres team will be made up of Rohr, Laurent Clerc, Mathias Rusterholz, and Marcel Schelbert, who also qualified for the 400 metres hurdles.
The Swiss team could still expand before next month’s Olympics, as several athletes try to confirm their places. Marathon specialist, Franziska Rochat-Moser, who has suffered from injury, will make several more attempts to meet the qualifying time.
Two middle distance runners, Peter Philipp and Sabine Fischer, still need to beat the qualifying time once more in order to book a ticket for the 1500 metres in Sydney.
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