11 August 2013

Four of GB & NI’s athletes progressed from their heats in the morning session of the second day at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow.

William Sharman (coach: Jerzy Maciukiewicz) started the day off for GB & NI as he finished third in his heat of the 110m hurdles to gain automatic qualification for the semi-final. Sharman, who finished fourth at the World Championships in 2009, ran a time of 13.51 and was pleased to have progressed safely.

He said: “It was a first round, a little bit messy in places. I didn’t get the start that ideally I would have wanted. I think I performed to the best of my ability this early in the morning, so that’s the main thing; I got the job done and I’m into the semi-final.”

In the heats of the women’s 1500m, Hannah England (Bud Baldaro) ran a controlled race and came through the field in the final 100m to finish third and qualify comfortably for Tuesday’s semi-finals. England ran a time of 4:08.05 and was relieved to have performed well in her first race for nearly a month:

“I was quite nervous before because I haven’t raced since the trials and that feels like an awful long time ago. Since then I’ve spent time in Font Romeu, Barcelona and now here so I’m glad to get that one under my belt.”

Laura Weightman (Steve Cram) missed out on a place in the 1500m semi-final as she finished 11th in her heat with a time of 4:14.38. The 22 year old admits that this race came too soon after suffering an injury at the Sainsbury’s British Championships: “I was on crutches for two weeks after the trials with a bruised bone in my foot, so I couldn’t run for two weeks. I’ve had ten days of running just to try and get my body going.”

Nigel Levine (Linford Christie) finished fourth in his 400m heat to secure automatic qualification for the semi-finals. Levine’s time of 45.41 was his second quickest in 2013 and he was pleased to have got the job done.

He said: “I just had to do what I had to do. I can’t really remember the race, I was just focussed on qualifying and that’s what I did, unfortunately it was fourth but it is an automatic qualifying spot.”

Asha Philip (Christine Bowmaker) successfully negotiated the first round of the women’s 100m as she finished third in her heat with a time of 11.29, her second fastest time ever.

Afterwards, she said: “I thought it was going to be hard to make the top three, and then I thought ‘I’m not going out first round’, so I’m definitely going to do it. 11.29 for third – I’m really pleased.”

For full results from the afternoon session of day one in Moscow please go to: http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-championships/14th-iaaf-world-championships-4873/timetable/byday

In this afternoon’s session, Shara Proctor (Rana Reider) will look to win GB & NI’s second medal of the championships as she lines up in the long jump final, Alex Wright (Raphael Rinaldi) will compete in the 20km walk, Christine Ohuruogu (Lloyd Cowan) goes in the second of three 400m semi-finals, Andrew Osagie (Craig Winrow) and Michael Rimmer (Norman Poole) compete in the 800m semi-finals and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey (Reider), Dwain Chambers (Reider) and James Dasaolu (Steve Fudge) all attempt to reach the 100m final.

Watch this afternoon’s session live on BBC1 between 15.30-19.15pm.

GB & NI finallists at the 2013 IAAF World Championships: