Olympic champion Usain Bolt and reigning world champion Tyson Gay both cantered through the heats of the men’s 100m on the opening day of the World Athletics Championships yesterday.
The first gold of the championships went Russia’s way when Olympic champion Valeriy Borchin won the men’s 20km walk title, finishing ahead of China’s Wang Hao and Mexico’s Eder Sanchez.
With the Olympic Stadium bathed in sunshine and temperatures at a balmy 23ºC, Bolt timed 10.20 seconds to lead Jamaican compatriots Michael Frater and Asafa Powell into the quarter-finals scheduled for later yesterday.
PHOTO: EPA
Former world record holder Powell, who took bronze in the Osaka worlds in 2007, almost paid the price for easing up too early, however, eventually finishing third in 10.38 seconds.
The one shock result in the 12 heats came as the silver medalist from Osaka, Derrick Atkins of the Bahamas, failed to qualify after clocking a disappointing 10.44 seconds.
In the US camp, defending triple world sprint champion Gay cruised through in the fastest time of 10.16 seconds along with his trio of teammates — Darvis Patton, Michael Rodgers and Monzavous Edwards.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Gay complained after his heat that his ongoing groin injury had not quite healed.
“I feel OK, but my groin felt a little sore,” Gay said. “I just didn’t want to waste too much energy getting through. I just wanted to play it safe.”
Other pre-race favorites, Daniel Bailey of Antigua — Bolt’s training partner — won his heat, while Churandy Martina of the Dutch Antilles, fourth at the Beijing Olympics, qualified in third spot in his race.
PHOTO: EPA
Briton Dwain Chambers, the world indoor 60m silver medalist who is competing after having served a two-year doping ban, recorded the second fastest time of the morning, coming home in 10.18 seconds.
“I’m happy with the time,” Chambers said. “The aim is to get through the rounds as easily as possible without using too much energy. You don’t want to go sub-10 seconds here, that uses up too much energy and digs into your reserves. I didn’t want to have any doubt about being in the next round, so I made sure I didn’t ease up.”
Chambers said he was confident he could challenge the likes of Bolt and Gay.
“I don’t doubt it for a second or I wouldn’t be here,” he said.
In the men’s shot-put, all the main favorites qualified for the final scheduled for later yesterday.
Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski of Poland recorded the longest putt of 21.19m on his first effort, with Belarus duo Pavel Lyzhyn and Andrei Mikhnevich close behind.
The American trio of Olympic silver medalist Christian Cantwell, Adam Nelson and reigning world champion Reese Hoffa also qualified, although the latter failed to hit the minimum qualification standard of 20.30m.
Britain’s Jessica Ennis sat in pole position on 2,267 points after the first two events of the heptathlon, recording field leads of 12.93 seconds in the 100m hurdles and 1.92m in the high jump. Olympic champion Nataliya Dobrynska was in sixth spot on 2,016 points.
The heptathletes were later to compete in the shot put and 200m. The second day of competition today involves long jump, javelin and finally the 800m.
In the women’s 400m, American Sanya Richards struck the first blow in her bitter rivalry with Olympic and world champion Chrstine Ohuruogu, winning her heat in a conservative 51.06 seconds.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set