The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
GB sprinter seals semi-final spot in low-key opening to World Championships
Briton in contention for 100m medal while favourite Coleman impresses
Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes powered into the 100 metres semifinals at the World Championships as Christian Coleman sent out a gold medal warning.
European champion Hughes won his heat in 10.08 seconds to comfortably go through on the opening day in Doha.
Coleman was the only man to go under 10 seconds as the American clocked 9.98secs in the final heat to underline his status as favourite.
They are joined in today’s semis by Adam Gemili, who came third in his heat, while defending champion Justin Gatlin, Andre De Grasse and Yohan Blake all eased through.
Hughes is a medal contender at the Khalifa International Stadium and could land Great Britain’s 100th World Championship medal in today’s final.
He said: “I’m happy I got through, that’s the main aim and that’s what I came here to do – get through the rounds and on to the semi-finals. I’m feeling well. As long as I get it together I know I’ll be fine.
“I know the start wasn’t that amazing. I’ll work on it. I have to find my setting on that block because it’s a bit different from what I’m using. Once I find it I’ll be fine.”
GB team-mate Ojie Edoburun ran 10.23s in the first heat, coming fifth, but qualified as the final fastest loser.
But it was Coleman in the final heat who looked most impressive.
The American, the fastest man in the world this year, arrived under a cloud, having initially been charged with missing three drugs tests – known as whereabouts failures – in 12 months, a claim he contested.
It carried an automatic one-year ban, but the United States Anti-doping Agency withdrew the charge after guidance from the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA).
Lord Coe, president of athletics’ world governing body the IAAF, also defended Coleman after criticism from Michael Johnson.
Four-time Olympic champion Johnson believes Coleman has forfeited his right to become the next face of athletics because of the controversy over his missed tests.
Coe said: “We have to be very careful not to play fast and loose with the reputation of athletes.”
It was a low-key opening to the championships, with the stadium barely half full and a top tier completely closed.
The official attendance was confirmed by the IAAF as 11,804 ticket-holders, plus 1,484 guests.
Shelayna Oskan-clarke, the first British athlete to compete in Doha, reached today’s 800m semi-finals by finishing second in her heat.
She ran 2:02.09 behind American Raevyn Rogers and was joined in the next round by GB team-mate Alex Bell.
But Scotland’s Lynsey Sharp, considered a medal contender with defending champion Caster Semenya missing, surprisingly crashed out after coming fourth in her heat.
Andy Butchart squeezed into the 5,000m final after Norway’s 19-year-old European champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen – one of the favourites for a medal – was disqualified for stepping off the track, with the Scot having initially missed out on a spot by one place.
Chris Mcalister also reached the 400m hurdles semi-final after coming fourth in his heat.
Holly Bradshaw reached the pole vault final with a first-time clearance of 4.60m, but Morgan Lake failed to progress in high jump qualification.