Yousef Ahmed Masrahi of Saudi Arabia set an Asian record in the 400-metre heats at the world championships on Sunday, joining a select group of five who have run sub-44 seconds this season.
Masrahi ran the one-lap race in 43.93 seconds to improve the continental record he ahd already held since last year by a whopping half a second. He crouched down and kissed the track after crossing the line.
In the same heat at the Bird’s Nest, Rusheen McDonald set a Jamaican record in the same time. It further underscored the excellent times that have been run by a slew of contenders this season.
Elsewhere Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill took charge of heptathlon after British compatriot and gold medal rival Katarina Johnson-Thompson fouled out in the long jump.
On the second morning at Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Stadium, defending champion and favourite Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce also eased through the opening heats of the women’s 100 metres in a very comfortable 10.88 seconds.
“Today is just about getting through the rounds,” she said.
The champion was joined in Monday’s semi-finals by a nervous American contender Tori Bowie (10.88), who put down a marker by easily beating former Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown (11.04) of Jamaica in the opening heat.
“I wanted to stay relaxed. This is my first major championships and I came out here extremely nervous today,” Bowie said after a quick heat time.
The experienced duo of Olympic champion Kirani James (44.56 seconds) of Grenada and US world champion LaShawn Merritt (44.51) barely strained as they safely negotiated the men’s 400m heats.
“I handled business like I was supposed to in the first round,” Merritt said. “I was a little conservative, but just enough to win. I know what to do in these championships.”
Prodigious American talent Shamier Little endured a tricky opening heat in the women’s 400m hurdles, though, with the world junior champion just slipping through to the semi-finals in fourth after losing her stride on the home stretch.
American Joe Kovacs finished top of the shot put qualifiers with a throw of 21.36 metres, just ahead of double world champion David Storl (21.26) of Germany with the final later on Sunday.
The morning drama, though, came in the heptathlon where Johnson-Thompson, an excellent long jumper, had trailed Ennis-Hill by 80 points in second place and was looking for a big jump to aid her quest for gold only for her keenness to result in three fouls and no points.
The British team appealed the narrow decision on the 22-year-old’s third jump but later withdrew the protest after viewing all evidence, ending her medal hopes.
Dutchwoman Nadine Broersen moved second after a javelin throw of 53.52 metres in the penultimate discipline, with Canadian Brianne Theisen-Eaton, the 2013 silver medallist and wife of decathlon world record holder Ashton Eaton, third on 5612 points.
Ennis-Hill, who gave birth to her son 13 months ago, offered 42.51m in the javelin
Spain’s Miguel Angel Lopez broke Chinese hearts to win the men’s 20 kilometres walk.
Olympic bronze medallist Wang Zhen had looked set to claim the host country’s first gold medal in Beijing after bursting clear at the 13km mark, only for the European champion to relentlessly reel him in over the last five kilometres.
Lopez, who took bronze in Moscow two years ago, turned on the power over the last two kilometres as his rivals wilted in the fierce morning heat, clocking a personal best of 1 hour 19 minutes 14 seconds.
Wang took silver as Asia’s wait for a first men’s world title in the 20km walk continues.
“This is the best moment in my life,” Lopez told reporters. “The course was difficult and complicated, plus the heat. My last 200m were an incredible sensation – I remembered all the people who have helped me.”
Sunday evening’s session will be headlined by the hotly-anticipated battle between Usain Bolt and Justin Gatlin for men’s 100m gold.
Source: TheNational
