By Sheldon Longley,SHELDON LONGLEY Guardian Sports Editor

Copyright thenassauguardian

TOKYO, Japan — Printassia Johnson is beginning to join elite company in the women’s 400 meters (m) in Bahamian history.

The Bahamas’ female quarter-miler shaved another half of a second off her personal best time, and she did it when it mattered most — on the world’s biggest stage for athletics.

Johnson ran a massive personal best time of 50.53 seconds on Sunday, finishing fourth in her heat of the women’s 400m at the 20th World Athletics Championships at the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday.

She moves on to the semifinals as the fastest non-automatic qualifier.

Prior to Sunday, Johnson’s personal best time was 51.07 seconds that she did at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association (NACAC) Track and Filed Championships in Freeport, Grand Bahama, this year.

Now, not only has she cracked 51 seconds for the first time, but she has also entered the top five in female quarter-mile running for The Bahamas in history, trailing just national record holder Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Tonique Williams, Pauline Davis-Thompson and Christine Amertil.

“It fees very good,” said Johnson. “I just wanted to go out there and run my race. I knew that once I ran my race, I would run well. I’m happy that I qualified and made it to the semifinals. Now, hopefully I could get into the final. I’m very happy with the PB (personal best time). I’m out there, and I’m really just having fun.”

She said she didn’t want to take it out too fast, conserving energy for the latter part of the race. Nickisha Pryce, of Jamaica, won that heat in 49.91 seconds. Henriette Jaeger, of Norway, was second in that heat in 50.12 seconds, and Roxana Gómez, of Cuba, rounded out the automatic qualifiers in 50.35 seconds.

The top three in each heat and the next six fastest times qualified for Tuesday’s semifinals.

The other Bahamian in the women’s 400m, Javonya Valcourt, didn’t have one of her better outings.

Valcourt finished seventh in her heat, and was 36th overall, in 52 seconds flat.

“I think that might be the slowest that I have ran all year,” she said. “Obviously, I’m not happy with the way I competed, but I’m glad I had the opportunity to compete at this high-level championships.”

The only field competitor in action for The Bahamas over the weekend was Donald Thomas in the men’s high jump.

Former World Champion Thomas finished tied for 10th in his group, and tied for 19th overall, with a clearance of 2.21m (7’ 3”). He cleared the opening height of 2.16m (7’ 1”) on his first attempt, and then needed three attempts to go over the bar at 2.21m.

Just the top 13 jumpers qualified for the final.

Team Bahamas will be back in action today.

Devynne Charlton will compete in the semifinals of the women’s 100m hurdles at 9:05 p.m. tonight in Tokyo, 8:05 a.m. Monday in The Bahamas. The final is set for 10:20 p.m. tonight in Tokyo, 9:20 a.m. Monday in The Bahamas.