Two-time Olympic champion Felix Sanchez will headline day six of the World Athletics Championships on Thursday, eyeing a history-making third title in the 400 metres hurdles.
The Dominican Republic star, who turns 36 at the end of August, came through his competitive heat along with most of the favourites, although British defending champion Dai Greene failed to recover sufficiently from a fever and bombed out.
Sanchez was left feeling all of his 35 years after Tuesday’s semi-final.
“The semi didn’t go to plan because the Cuban runner Omar Cisneros was very quick and I had to really dig in to get after his pace,” Sanchez said.
“I was out of the blocks thinking that racing a time of 48.30 or 48.50sec would suffice. But when Cisneros kicked, it surprised me,” with the result that the London Olympic champion produced a season’s best time of 47.93sec.
Both the other current Olympic medallists made it through in the shape of American Michael Tinsley and Puerto Rico’s bronze-medal winner Javier Culsom.
American Kerron Clement also kept his hopes alive of regaining the title he won in 2007 and 2009 by going through as one of the two fastest losers, but teammate and 2005 world champion Bershawn Jackson pulled up injured.
Jehue Gordon of Trinidad and Tobago also impressed, and was installed as firm favourite by Sanchez.
“I saw him almost jogging to win his semi,” joked Sanchez.
Also on the track is the showdown between Kenyan steeplechase great Ezekiel Kemboi and France’s two-time Olympic silver medallist Mahiedine Mekhissi.
The duo are close friends off the track but delight in the competitive spirit both take to the track.
Mekhissi, who has only once finished in front of Kemboi in a final when he took the silver in the 2008 Olympics while the Kenyan could only finish seventh, said: “He (Kemboi) is my best friend off the track but my worst enemy on it.”
The Frenchman hopes that Thursday’s final will see him reverse finishing positions but he admits it will be hard to better their post-race celebration.
“We exchanged shirts at the finish. That had never been done before in athletics,” he said. “That day I did not win gold but I took home the Olympic champion’s vest.
“We created a little bit of history for our event, showed a good image for our sport. I hope that we continue to enjoy ourselves.”
The other headline gold medal on offer is the men’s high jump, which is sure to attract big crowds into the Luzhniki Stadium.
Russian Olympic champion Ivan Ukhov comes up against a high-class field including Ukraine’s Bohdan Bondarenko and Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim, but without defending world champion Jesse Williams, the injured American failing to make it through the qualifier.
Bondarenko has cleared 2.41m this season and Barshim 2.40, the first year since 1991 that two men have gone over 2.40m.
Hopes will be high that either of the pair will challenge Cuban Javier Sotomayor’s world record of 2.45m set back in 1993.
Russian fans will look to Ukhov, who qualified for the final after struggling to impress this season, including a lowly fifth-placed finish at the World University Games last month.
“Qualification for the final was very difficult because we are so many athletes jumping at the same, very high level,” said Barshim.
Three other golds are on offer in the women’s 1500m, 400m hurdles and triple jump.
There are also the semi-finals of the women’s 200m, with Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce targeting a double after nailing the 100m title.
Sanchez eyes history-making gold in 400m hurdles
