In two Olympic appearances, Joseph Fahnbulleh is now 2 for 2 at reaching the men’s 200-meter dash men’s final.

The 2019 Hopkins High School graduate punched his ticket to Thursday’s medal round, set for 1:30 p.m. Central, with a second-place finish in his semifinal Wednesday in Paris.

Fahnbulleh, who entered the meet ranked No. 11 in the world in the 200, crossed the finish line in 20.12 seconds, just three-hundredths of a second behind American Erriyon Knighton.

Fahnbulleh’s time Wednesday was sixth fastest among all competitors. Rice Lake product Kenneth Bednarek ran the second-fastest time, winning his semifinal heat in 20.00 seconds. The top time of the day went to Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo. The 100-meter Olympic champion, Noah Lyles of America, is still the gold-medal favorite.

Kenneth Bednarek, centre, of the United States, competes in the men’s 200-meter semifinal at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Bednarek claimed silver in this event in Tokyo in 2021, while Fahnbulleh, who runs for Liberia, finished fifth. Lyles is the defending world champion, while Knighton was second at Worlds last year, and Tebogo was third.

Bednarek (fifth) and Fahnbulleh (ninth) were each off the podium in Budapest in 2023, something they hope to change on Thursday. Sub-20-second times will likely be required to finish in the top three.

Fahnbulleh has gone that low before, though not this season. Bednarek owns the second-fastest time this year at 19.59 seconds, which trails only Lyles’ best (19.53). Both of those times were set at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

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