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More news articles Chambers fastest in 60m heats
Dwain Chambers eased into the semi-finals with a clocking of 6.59 from the heats while Harry Aikines-Aryeetey also progressed into the semi-finals
DWAIN CHAMBERS confirmed his status as the pre-race favourite in the 60m as the European indoor champion was fastest qualifier from the heats. The Belgrave Harrier, who is the fastest athlete among the entrants in Doha, dominated the second heat, easing to a 6.59 clocking and it is clear there is much more left in the tank.
After a sluggish start, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey also qualified for the semi-finals and the UK indoor silver medallist finished third in the third heat in 6.72.
Despite the absence of world No.1 Ivory Williams, who tested positive for cannabis just before these championships, the Americans put up a very good showing in the heats. Trell Kimmons, who was the replacement for Williams, was the second fastest in 6.61 while former US indoor champion Michael Rodgers qualified safely with 6.69.
In the women’s 60m heats, Joice Maduaka was very slow out of the blocks but the UK indoor 60m champion progressed into the semi-finals with 7.46. World No.1 Laverne Jones-Ferrette from the US Virgin Islands was the fastest with 7.14 but Veronica Campbell-Brown and Carmelita Jeter also progressed without any fuss.
Defending champion Meseret Defar from Ethiopia was among the qualifiers for the 3000m final. The former Olympic 5000m champion was the fastest qualifier with 8:48.23 and Defar qualified along with world 5000m champion Vivian Cheruiyot, European indoor champion Alemitu Bekele and Sentayehu Ejigu.
There won’t be any British representation in the final. Barbara Parker missed out on making the final by the narrowest of margins as South Africa’s Rene Kalmer pipped Parker for the fourth automatic spot by eleven-hundredths and her time of 9:01.52 was not good enough for a fastest loser spot.
Scott Overall did not qualify for the men’s 3000m final. He finished eighth in the second heat in 8:08.02.
Gemma Turtle finished a distant eleventh in the second heat in 9:17.55.
Priscilla Lopes-Schliep from Canada and defending champion Lolo Jones from the USA were the only athletes to break the eight-second barrier in the heats of the 60m hurdles. Gemma Bennett did not progress after finishing fifth in the heats in 8.20.
Morocco’s Abdaalati Iguider was the fastest qualifier from the 1500m heats with 3:37.14 but team-mate Amine Laalou and defending champion Deresse Mekonnen from Ethiopia were just as impressive in qualifying but Brit Tim Bayley failed to qualify with 3:42.57.
In the women’s 1500m, Kalkidan Gezahegne produced a gutsy display to qualify fastest for the final. The Ethiopian teenager took a heavy fall in the opening stages but the world junior 1500m silver medallist worked her way back into contention and cheered on by a sizeable Ethiopian contingent in the crowd, Gezahegne took the second heat in 4:08.31.
UK indoor champion Helen Clitheroe also made the final as her time of 4:13.97 was enough to qualify as a fastest loser but Charlotte Best, who clocked 4:16.40, did not progress.
Tatyana Firova and Debbie Dunn won their 400m semi-finals in 51.36 and 52.08 respectively. Former world bronze medallist Novlene Williams-Mills from Jamaica also progressed along with European champion Vania Stambolova but former two-time world indoor champion Natalya Nazarova from Russia failed to qualify.
In the 400m heats this morning, Richard Buck qualified as a fastest loser with 47.02 while Dale Garland only finished fourth in the first heat in 48.26 but Buck, who won the UK indoor title for the third time this year, did not make any further progress after finishing fifth in his semi in 47.70. US champion Bershawn Jackson won the first semi while Bahamian Chris Brown took the second.
Terrence Trammell and David Oliver both clocked 7.60 in the heats of the 60m hurdles while Dayron Robles sauntered through to the semi-finals in 7.74 after a pedestrian start. Defending champion Liu Xiang looked a bit rusty but the Chinese progressed with 7.79.
UK indoor champion Samson Oni qualified for the high jump final but Tom Parsons was very unlucky to miss out. Oni and Parsons both cleared 2.26m but Parsons did not progress on countback due to a costly failure at 2.23m.
Steve Lewis showed great maturity to qualify for the pole vault final. The Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, who seemed to be contending with a slight elbow injury, cleared 5.45m and 5.60m at his third attempts to qualify from a competition which saw many of the big names crash out.
Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie and former Olympic champion Tim Mack both failed to qualify.
Compatriot Kate Dennison failed to qualify for the women’s equivalent. The Sale Harrier, who has cleared 4.60m this year was very much expected to feature but the world finalist could only manage 4.35m.
Yelena Isinbayeva led the pole vault qualifying with 4.55m but the Russian came very close to crashing out without a height to her name for the second successive championships. Isinbayeva was in tears after two failures but the defending champion responded to the pressure with a third time clearance.
UK record-holder Greg Rutherford and Valencia silver medallist Chris Tomlinson failed to progress to the long jump final. Rutherford’s 7.80m and Tomlinson’s 7.74m did not suffice in a competition led by the Australian duo of Fabrice Lapierre and Mitchell Watt.
In the triple jump, Yoandris Betanzos and Christian Olsson led the qualifying round with respective best marks of 17.11m and 17.07m.
In the heptathlon, defending champion Bryan Clay leads Aleksey Drozdov by one point overnight. Clay has amassed a tally of 3549 but Drozdov closed the gap on the leader with a 2.09m clearance in the high jump.
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