BEIJING — Reigning Olympic and world champion Jeremy Wariner and rival LaShawn Merritt easily qualified for the Summer Games 400-meter semifinals Monday morning.
Both built big leads and jogged home to win their respective heats. Wariner won the last of seven heats in 45.23 seconds, while Merritt led the fifth heat in 44.96.
“No surprise. He’s ready. I’m ready. Time to go,” Merritt said. “We’re here. It’s the Olympic Games. It’s time for a showdown — a throwdown.”
The once-invincible Wariner’s biggest concern here figures to be Merritt, who beat him twice this year — including at the U.S. Olympic trials.
Wariner played down the rivalry, saying, “That’s not on my mind right now.”
The pair finished 1-2 at the 2007 world championships and own the year’s two best times in the one-lap test of speed and endurance. Wariner has said he intends to break the world record of 43.18 set at the 1999 world championships by Michael Johnson, who now serves as Wariner’s manager.
The 400 semifinals are Tuesday, the final Thursday.
With Wariner taking gold, the United States swept the 400 medals at the 2004 Olympics.
David Neville, the third U.S. entrant here, also advanced Monday, finishing second in his heat in 45.22. He’s been dealing with a sore Achilles’ tendon and took the previous three days off to rest.
“I thought I was going to be able to run a little bit slower,” Neville said. “I did what I had to do and make it through.”
Monday’s qualifying action also was to include 100-meter champion and world record-holder Usain Bolt in the first round of 200-meter heats, as he tries to become the first man since Carl Lewis in 1984 to complete an Olympic 100-200 double.
And the local fans at the Bird’s Nest were eagerly awaiting the first round of heats in the 110-meter hurdles, featuring defending Olympic champion Liu Xiang — considered China’s best shot at a gold medal in track and field — and the man who eclipsed his world record this year, Cuba’s Dayron Robles.
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