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More news articles Chambers saunters to fastest time in heats
Williamson and Pickering also qualify easily, whilst Lewis and Rutherford progress
THERE were no difficulties for the three British athletes in the 60m. Dwain Chambers looked in a different class to the rest of the European contenders, as he eased to a 6.53 clocking, which is only 0.02 outside his world-lead. Simeon Williamson and Craig Pickering also won their heats, as Greg Rutherford and Steve Lewis also progressed to their respective finals.
Men’s long jump qualifying
EUROPEAN silver medallist Greg Rutherford qualified for the final, but it was somewhat touch and go in the end. The 22-year-old set a PB of 7.99m in the opening round, which was only one-centimetre shy of the qualifying distance but to make sure of his place in the final, Rutherford took his final attempt but it was deemed a foul.
However, Rutherford prevailed as the sixth best of the morning and with Louis Tsatoumas crashing out, a medal is up for grabs.
Women’s 60m heats
NORWAY’S Ezinne Okparebo produced the fastest time in the preliminaries, setting her fourth national record of the season of 7.22, which was the only clocking under the 7.3-barrier.
Men’s 60m heats
THE triumvirate of British athletes qualified for the semi-finals with victories in their respective heats. There was no doubt that Dwain Chambers was the most dominant in his victory, as he cruised to the round’s fastest time of 6.53, whilst Simeon Williamson and Craig Pickering had to work a bit harder to win their heats, but qualified by right as the third and fifth fastest overall, running 6.61 and 6.63 respectively.
Men’s pole vault qualifying
STEVE LEWIS put his major championships demons behind him with a confident display in qualification. The UK indoor champion cleared 5.70m at his first attempt and medal opportunities will be heightened with the non-qualification of the defending champion Danny Ecker and the former champion Viktor Chistakov.
Women’s high jump qualifying
ALL the luminaries qualified with the minimum of effort but the only disappointment for the crowd was that Antonietta Di Martino, the world outdoor bronze medallist, did not start in the competition.
Men’s 60m heptathlon
UKRAINE’S Oleksiy Kasyanov took an early lead with a lifetime best of 6.83 (944 points) but there were mixed fortunes for the main contenders. Holland’s Eelco Sintnicolaas started strongly with the second fastest time of the day of 6.99 (886-points) but the disappointment was a lethargic showing from the world decathlon record-holder Roman Sebrle, the 11th fastest at 7.17 (823-points) and the former world indoor champion Andre Niklaus was 13th fastest at 7.21 (809-points.)
Women’s 3000m heats
BEDFORD’S Katrina Wootton qualified for the final as a fastest loser but was found wanting in the closing stages of her heat. However, her time of 9:01.21 was good enough to progress to the final.
Surprisingly, Anna Alminova participated in the 3000m heats, despite the fact she will line up for the 1500m final this afternoon. The European no.1 eased through but Lidia Chojecka, the defending 1500/3000m champion, dropped out of the second heat, in order to focus on the 1500m final this afternoon.
Men’s shot put qualifying
CARL MYERSCOUGH failed to make the final of this event with a paltry 18.65m. All the luminaries progressed, with the exception of Russia’s Pavel Sofin.
Men’s long jump heptathlon
OLEKSIY KASYANOV maintained his lead with a 7.85m jump, but the longest jumper of the day was Estonia’s Mikk Pahapill who leapt 7.97m, which would have qualified for the final of the individual long jump.
Three-time defending champion Roman Sebrle looked ring rusty in the opening event but the former Olympic champion moved up to fourth, with a 7.72m jump.
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