Defending Olympic champion Angelo Taylor of the US opened the hostilities when winning the first of five heats in the men’s 400m Hurdles first round.
The 25-year-old Atlanta-based American ran a surprisingly inconsistent race in lane 8. Fastest out of the blocks and in the lead as he entered the final bend Taylor totally faded for 120 metres. By then Commonwealth champion Christopher Rawlinson of Great Britain had taken over the lead running a more orthodox race in lane 3. The 32-year-old Briton was the first to enter the final stretch with Jiri Muzik of the Czech Republic counting on his traditional late surge to come back in contention.
And suddenly here comes Taylor again who comfortably sped past the two Europeans to cross the line in 48.79 ahead of Muzik (48.85) and Rawlinson (48.94).
Eventually Taylor’s first-round win turned out to be the slowest of the five heats.
The fastest time of the day came soon after as Paris World Championships fourth place finisher Danny Mc Farlane of Jamaica took the highly contested second heat in 48.35.
Coming into the final straight, him, Bennie Brazell of the US, Llewelyn Herbert of South Africa and Stepan Tesarik of Czech Republic were level with the American slightly ahead.
With the more experienced McFarlane making just enough efforts to ensure the win, Brazell was to be content with second in 48.57 with fast finishing former World Junior champion Marek Plawgo of Poland taking third in 48.67.
Both Herbert in fourth and Tesarik in fifth advanced to tomorrow’s semi-finals.
It took US Trials champion James Carter who was fourth in the Sydney Olympics a little more effort than expected to win the third heat in 48.64 a mere five hundredths of a second ahead of home crowd favourite Periklis Iakovakis.
Japan’s Dai Tamesue, the last man to beat double World champion Felix Sanchez was third in 48.80.
It may have been a long time ago but Sanchez still remembers his 2001 defeat to Tamesue and vowed to keep his winning streak alive as long as possible and that including the heats.
The Pan American champion succeeded in that intent today as he cruised to the line in 48.51 after cutting his effort an incredible 80 metres to the tape.
Sanchez red and blue full body suit was only a distant sight for South Africa’s Alwyn Myburgh whose 48.84 in second also took little effort tonight.
Last year’s NCAA champion Dean Griffiths looked a secure third but clipped the final hurdle and faded down to fifth. His 49.41 clocking was one of the fastest losing times but the Jamaican didn’t seem fit enough to contemplate lining-up in tomorrow’s semi-final as he lied on the track holding his hamstring.
Third and fourth in this heat Russian championships runner-up Mikhail Lipskiy and Sydney silver medallist Hadi Al Somaily also advanced to the semis.
The final heat saw another Jamaican on top as Kemel Thompson, last year’s fifth place finisher in Paris clocked 48.66 running blind in lane 8.
Naman Keita ran his characteristically slow first half of the race only to come through in the final stages in a seemingly effortless but powerful kick. The long legged Frenchman took second in 48.88 well clear of Ockert Cilliers of South Africa (49.12) and the surprising Portuguese Edivaldo Monteiro (49.53).
LA
