Extremes were the highlights of the first round of the men's 400m.
In the first heat, California Molefe of Botswana cruised to a 45.74 world season leader, the only sub-45 second performance of the day; in the final heat of five, American Lashawn Merritt, one of the pre-meet favourites, was disqualified for a lane violation.
For the 25-year-old Molefe, who won just one of his six races this winter and finished second in the others, it was a vast improvement over his previous best of 46.26 set earlier this winter.
"I really didn't expect to set a World-leading time in the first round," said Molefe, whose current training base is in Dusselforf. "I just did everything that I could." He is coached by Bobby Gaseatsewene, who is based in Botswana.
Besides the early departure by Merritt, who dipped under 45 seconds indoors in 2005, no other surprises emerged.
Defending champion Alleyne Francique moved on easily after his 46.79 win in the second heat, edging Marcin Marciniszyn of Poland, who advanced as well.
American Milton Campbell, a two time silver medallist indoors and undefeated this season, advanced easily with his 46.67 win.
“It feels great to be back at world level,” said Campbell, who has been undefeated this year. “We still need to go through the semifinals and then anything can happen.”
Other heat winners were Christopher Brown of the Bahamas (46.64) and Jamaican Davian Clarke (46.37), who raced to the silver medal in Budapest two years ago.
BR
