Bolt, Gay cruise into 100m semis as Borchin walks to gold

Olympic champion Usain Bolt and reigning world champion Tyson Gay cruised into the semi-finals of the men's 100m on the opening day of the World Athletics Championships in Berlin yesterday.

In sultry conditions at the Olympic Stadium, it was Bolt's team-mate and former world record holder Asafa Powell, however, who set the pace.

The bronze medallist from the 2007 Osaka worlds looked very comfortable when racing home to win his quarter-final in 9.95sec and refused to ease up as he had done in the opening heats when he was beaten into third.

"I'm fine. I just wanted to get through the day," Powell said.

"The first round in the morning I was just running too easy and I underestimated the other guys."

Bolt was beaten into second in his heat by training partner Daniel Bailey, of Antigua, with the two sprinters easing up and even laughing together as they crossed the line in just over 10 seconds.

In the US camp, defending triple world sprint champion Gay cruised through in the second fastest time of 9.98 along with his trio of team-mates Darvis Patton, Michael Rodgers and Monzavous Edwards.

But the visibly limping Gay again complained of his nagging injury.

"My groin is sore but, all in all, it went pretty well," he said.

In what is building up to be a US vs Jamaica sprint-off, Jamaican Michael Frater also qualified for today's semi-finals, with the final scheduled for 9.35 p.m.

Briton Dwain Chambers, the world indoor 60m silver medallist who is competing after having served a two-year doping ban, won his heat in a season's best of 10.05 ahead of Richard Thompson of Trinidad.

There were tears for promising 19-year-old French hope Christian Lemaitre, however, after he was disqualified along with Colombian Daniel Grueso for a second false start.

The one shock result in the 12 opening heats earlier in the day came as the silver medallist from Osaka, Derrick Atkins, of the Bahamas, failed to qualify after clocking a disappointing 10.44.

Russian stroll

Russian Olympic champion Valeriy Borchin claimed the first gold medal of the championships when he won the men's 20km walk yesterday. He clocked one hour, 18 minutes and 41 seconds over a scenic route through the German capital.

China's Hao Wang finished second in 1:19.06 with fast-closing Eder Sanchez, of Mexico, the bronze medallist in 1:19.22.

Borchin, the youngest Olympic walk champion at 22, assumed the lead between 10 and 15 km and gradually pulled away for the victory at the Brandenburg Gate.

In the evening, Kenya's Linet Masai ended Ethiopia's 10-year domination of the women's world 10,000 metres title when Meselech Melkamu celebrated too early and was caught on the line in a thrilling final.

Masai, fourth in the Olympics, looked out of it when she was overtaken by two Ethiopians 300 metres out but she maintained her long-legged stride and, as Melkamu thrust both arms into the air with two metres to go, squeezed past to win in 30:51.24.

Melkamu finished a tenth of a second behind with compatriot Wude Ayalew third, also just a pace behind, in 30:51.95.

The Ethiopians, who had won five consecutive world championships in the event, lost two-time defending champion Tirunesh Dibaba to a leg injury on Friday.

Late in the day, American Christian Cantwell won the men's shot put as Poland's Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski was second and Germany's Ralf Bartels took bronze in a high quality and thrilling final.

The 29-year-old Cantwell, silver medalist at last year's Olympics, had to produce a world leading mark for this season of 22.03 metres in the penultimate round to see off Majewski, whose best effort was also in the fifth round of 21.91m, while Bartels produced a personal best of 21.37m.