Adam Gemili insists he has the 200m final firmly in his sights after marking his senior World Athletics Championship bow in style with a new personal best in Moscow.
Gemili had to wait until day seven to get out on the track in Russia, eager to build on gold over 100m and fourth over 200m at the European Under-23 Championships last month.
And the wait clearly gave the Brit itchy feet as he stormed out of the blocks to win his 200m heat in 20.17seconds, beating his previous personal best by 0.13.
That time means Gemili now sits fifth on the all-time UK list, while it is also the fastest time posted by a Brit since Christian Malcolm ran 20.15 in 2005.
And, with the semi-finals following swiftly on at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Gemili was delighted to get off to a flying start but won’t be settling for that.
“I’m very pleased with how it went so I’ll take that forward to the semi-final and hopefully do well again,” he said.
“I was surprised; I was just looking forward to making the final. If I ran sub 20 at this meet I’d be over the moon but the final is my main aim.
“If the rest doesn’t go to plan then at least I’ve come away with a personal best.”
Gemili will be joined in the semi-final by British teammates James Ellington and Delano Williams as the pair also safely came through their heats.
Like Gemili, Ellington was impressive in winning his heat in 20.55 while Williams finished second behind defending champion Usain Bolt.
There was also good news for Tiffany Porter as she kicked off a fine morning for Britain by winning her 100m hurdles heat in a time of 12.72.
“It was just a matter of working off the cobwebs and just focusing on running a clean race and qualifying, that’s the most important thing and I’m happy I was able to do that,” Porter said.
“The main focus this whole season has been here, the World Championships, so hopefully I can put my races together and come out victorious.
“It’s been excruciating having to wait so long; I’ve been ready to go since the first day. I’ve just been itching to get out here.
“So I’m happy I’m finally competing and finally it’s our turn to just go out here and hopefully put on a good show.”
And to round off a fine morning session Great Britain’s women’s 4x400m relay team won their heat in 3:25.39minutes to comfortably qualify for the final.
The team were led out by Eilidh Child, who had finished fifth in the 400m hurdles final less than 24 hours ago, before Shana Cox and Margaret Adeoye maintained Great Britain’s lead.
Christine Ohuruogu brought them home for victory as Perri Shakes-Drayton missed out having flown home early to determine the full extent of a knee injury suffered in the 400m hurdles final.
“The girls did a superb job so I didn’t have to do much work,” said newly-crowned world 400m champion Ohuruogu.
“We always plan to turn up and deliver a really good performance and we always do and that was really great.
“They are a brilliant team to work with and I this is a really strong team and everyone has been looking forward to this and we are ready for the final.”
© Sportsbeat 2013