Usain Bolt clearly intends to make experience count here ths week, as the IAAF World Junior Champion at 200m barely extended himself to progress from his heat of the 400m.
Bolt, 1.99m (6ft 5in) tall, although he will not celebrate his 17th birthday until September, looked to be jogging through to 300 metres, as Antonio Side, of the Dominican Republic, and Gambia's Musa Jatta, both drawn inside the Jamaican, led him into the home straight.
A former cricketer, Bolt - who ran 45.35sec earlier this summer before winning his national senior 200m title - is approaching these IAAF World Youth Championships as if they are a five-day Test match rather than a one-day international, knowing that he has two further rounds of the one-lap sprint plus the 200m to cope with. So the Sherbrooke public today only caught a glimpse of him as he extended his ground-eating stride over the last 50 metres or so, doing just enough to qualify with 48.36 to Side's 47.84. Jatta qualified in 48.48.
The 400m is one of the best supported events here at Sherbrooke, with six heats being required to determine Friday's semi-finalists. Nagmeldin Ali Abubakr, from Sudan, took heat one easing up well clear of all challengers with the fastest heat time, 47.50. Next best was heat five winner, Frank Puriza, from Namibia, who clocked a PB 47.57.
Among Bolt's closest challengers come the final may be another Caribbean islander. Jamil James, despite a hesitant start, won the final heat by nearly 10 metres, with 48.24.
