Pau faced former 400m world champion in 200m heats

With seven of the ten heats needing to be completed before he was due to run, Pau Funes Fa faced a long wait before taking to the track. As each heat was completed, the pressure mounted on the youngster, whose personal best in the 200m stood at 23.05 seconds.
Pau watched as, from the very first heat, five runners recorded times considerably faster than his own personal best.
With the Gibraltar national record standing at 21.31 seconds, set by Jessy Franco in 2019, Pau was looking to achieve a personal best in an attempt to close the gap in what is one of the toughest sprint events to compete in, alongside the 100m.
Pau had been drawn against Charley Matundu (NAM), Lerano Missick (TCA), Steven Gardiner (BAH), Justice Oratile (BOT), Norre Robinson (BER) and Jamie Oldham (JEY), placing him in a field similar in strength to those he might encounter at an Island Games.
Gardiner was among the fastest athletes in the field, having won Olympic gold in the 400m in 2020 and the World Championship title in 2019. He was looking to record one of the fastest times to secure a place in the semi-finals.
Even before Pau had run, with 33 athletes already having broken the 23-second mark, his hopes of finishing anywhere near the top half of the standings were slim.
The heats had already seen at least five athletes disqualified across the opening seven races before Pau's event.
The young Gibraltar athlete performed well, finishing fifth in his heat with a time of 23.34 seconds, just outside his personal best. His race also saw one athlete fail to start and another fail to finish.
Gardiner finished second in the heat in 20.85 seconds, beaten by Botswana's Justice Oratile, who crossed the line in 20.58. After eight heats, Gardiner's time ranked only sixteenth overall, leaving him at risk of missing out on a place in the semi-finals. Gardiner dropping to 18th place immediately after the next heat and seeing him out of contention for the 16 fastest times.