Asafa almost went out in the first round, running 10.38! He stopped running so early he got passed by 2 guys, and almost 3. Qualification is first 3 automatically, and next 4 fastest. 4th was 10.40. Derek Atkins didn’t make it in 10.44.
Dwain Chambers won his comfortably in 10.18, looking pretty good.
-Edit-
4th place finishers are building up that are faster than 10.38. Asafa almost blew it! His .120 reaction time helped him make it to the 2nd round, as the guy he beat by 0.02 had a 0.03 slower reaction, with a respectable 0.148.
While I don’t think he wanted it to be quite that close, he was obviously trying to spend as little energy as possible in this heat. Based on his past difficulties with running rounds, this was probably the right decision.
Asafa needs to be careful but he needs all his energy for later on. He’s better situated than he has been in the past where he’s overqualified by miles and then run out of gas when it counted.
Watched several of the QFs. Asafa Powell said the track felt a bit dead and it might be. In fact, it looks suspiciously like the crap they put in at U of T in Toronto but it’s too early to be sure. I’m surprised they didn’t put in Mondo.
Great run by G-Force to get a place for tomorrow. In such deadly pressure, it’s tough to come out there an run right around your pb- which he had to do! A lot of sub ten guys are gone already but he’s still there.
QFs 3 and 5 seemed to be stacked but the results indicate considerable balance across all 5 QFs.
Bummed about Lemaitre - thought it might be this week that all the sub10 crap ended.
I’m not sure what sort of times to expect for the final. Track does not, to my untrained and quite distant eye, look great and the winds haven’t helped anyone a whole lot.
But the racing seems to be quite good anyway. Bailey, Bolt, Powell, Gay, Thompson, & co. should be fun to watch.
I am in Berlin right now watching and Asafa looked great but i think he expended to much energy running in the qfinal. Usain was smilling at the guy running and almost looked like he was having a conversation with him. Usain is on point. Tyson is really slow out of the blocks in the first 2 rounds. Just from watching Usain for sure but i think asafa will come 2nd and gay maybe 3rd. I cant wait till tomomrow
I agree with the opinion of the track…it looks dead…not a super mondo track. Asafa pulling faces and smiling before a race? lol…looks like someone has been taking Boltology lessons.
That U of T track is my nightmare. What a waste of time and a trip. Sponge for a track and not to mention the constant headwind that goes down the 100m stretch. -4.7w on a wet sponge what is that! haha, oh boy.
Well Asafa did look loose, I wonder if he is forcing himself to act like bolt at the start line to try and ease the nerves. His first 30m was phenomenal. But I won’t get my hopes up yet, at this point he always looks like he should win or get 2nd no problem, and things go way downhill from there. I desperately want him to surprise me.
He’s young and there for experience and I hope his coaches theat it that way and just get him ready for the relay where they have a reasonable chance of good things.
Yes, it is everyone’s nightmare. Not only a poor choice for a surface, they even turned the sprint straight the other way from how it was originally set up so you could enjoy the headwinds coming down an open street full force in your face. The decision was made not to put stands on the west side when the track was put in. They had permission to close the small street beside there to make room but decided not to when the Toronto Argos football team didn’t end up there as well.
I really hope the Berlin track only looks the same - but the verdict is still out.