Michael Johnson narrowly averted disaster in the second round of the 400m. He came off the final turn of his heat in 3rd place, behind Jamie Baulch of Britain and Davis Kamoga of Uganda. In the last 50m, Johnson began easing up and looking around. His deceleration became very apparent in the final steps, and Ibrahima Wade of Senegal passed him at the line, relegating the Olympic champion to 4th place.
Only three places gained automatic qualification to the semifinals, with the next four fastest from the four heats also qualifying. For the obviously concerned Johnson, it became a tense waiting game for the results of the remaining two heats.
In the first heat, Antonio Pettigrew of the United States and Iwan Thomas of Great Britain had dominated. The two finished well ahead of the field, running 44.88 and 44.98 respectively. Roxbert Martin of Jamaica finished 4th in 45.37, a time that would put him ahead of Johnson in the competition for the four time-qualifying spots.
In heat three, Clement Chukwu of Nigeria and Tyree Washington of the United States ran away from the field. Chukwu clocked 45.06 at the finish, just 0.03 ahead of Washington. The 4th place spot went to Hachim Ndiaye of Senegal in 45.44, slower than Johnson’s time.
Heat four saw Jerome Young easily power away from his competition, running a very relaxed 44.87. In 4th place, Nigeria’s Sunday Bada ran 45.37, knocking Johnson down to the third of the four time qualifying positions. Next across the line came Tomasz Czubak of Poland, in a personal best of 45.41. Johnson survived his scare, ending up ranked 15th of 16 overall.
