10 August 2013

The IAAF World Championships got underway in Moscow this morning with both of GB & NI’s male 800m runners advancing beyond the first round.

Andrew Osagie (coach: Craig Winrow) finished third in his heat with a time of 1:46.16 to secure automatic qualification from the first round and the 25 year old was pleased with the manner in which he progressed.

“It was a morning race, people know I don’t like morning races. I got the job done, I keep saying I came here to try and be a professional athlete, that’s what it’s about when you get to the champs – to try and get through the rounds, being focussed and I felt relaxed,” he said.

“I didn’t need to hold too much back, I didn’t need to push too much, so I think it was a good performance for me.”

Michael Rimmer (Norman Poole) matched his teammate as he also finished third in his heat to safely advance to tomorrow’s semi-final. Rimmer’s time of 1:45.47 was the third quickest overall and the 27 year old believes that his experience enabled him to run the race that he needed to qualify.

“It was brutal, for a heat that was tough. There was always the possibility that was the way it would be. I talked with my coach beforehand and he said there was a good possibility I’d be last to 200m, and I pretty much was, it was a bit of a shock but I think previous championships have taught me not to panic too much.”

There was disappointment for Steve Lewis (Dan Pfaff) in the pole vault as three failures at 5.40m meant that he failed to record a height and did not qualify for Monday’s final.

“It was a tough day. My second attempt was good, I was really high in the air but I came down on the bar. On my third attempt there was a bit of a head wind, the marks moved and the same thing happened. It was three attempts that didn’t really go my way and I’m really disappointed. I’m sorry if I’ve let anyone down.”

Ashley Bryant (Ian Grant) was forced to withdraw from the decathlon before the first event due to a hamstring injury and the 22 year old was deeply disappointed that he couldn’t make his World Championship debut.

“Unfortunately I got a grade one hamstring tear last week, I knew I’d be up against it to recover but I thought I had a good chance because it was in good shape in the last few days so I was hopeful.

“In warm up today when I had to push it that bit more it wasn’t ready for the competition. I’m gutted but that’s sport I guess.”

For full results from the morning 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 today’s afternoon session Mo Farah (Alberto Salazar) will look to win GB & NI’s first medal in the 10,000m, Christine Ohuruogu (Lloyd Cowan) gets her 400m campaign underway, Shara Proctor (Rana Reider) and Lorraine Ugen (Frank Attoh) attempt to qualify for the long jump final, Eilish McColgan (Liz McColgan) runs in the heats of the 3,000m steeplechase and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey (Reider), Dwain Chambers (Reider) and James Dasaolu (Steve Fudge) line up in the first round of the men’s 100m.

Watch the afternoon session live on BBC1 between 11.15am and 6.30pm.