Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the 100m heats at the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015 (© Getty Images)
Before Sunday, only once in World Championship history had we witnessed a woman dip under 11 seconds in the first round heats of the 100m. This morning, we saw four women break through that barrier.
The avalanche of super-quick times began in the opening heat as Tori Bowie flew to victory in 10.88 (0.5mps).
Bowie, the US champion, was just behind Great Britain's Asha Philip and Jamaica's 2007 women's 100m champion Veronica Campbell-Brown out of the blocks, but by 30 metres had established a clear lead.
From that point on she maintained her advantage to flash through the line 0.16 clear of Campbell-Brown, with Philip claiming the third automatic spot in 11.28.
In heat two, Blessing Okagbare recovered from a slightly pedestrian start to pip Jamaica's Natasha Morrison by 0.01 in 11.07.
The powerhouse Nigerian, sporting dyed red hair, trailed the quick starting Morrison for much of the race before charging through in the latter stages to earn the satisfaction of the heat win.
Heat three went against the formbook as Michelle-Lee Ahye, of Trinidad and Tobago, stole a march on the field with her quick start to blast to victory in 10.98. It was an impressive victory from the heavily-tattooed Trinidadian who comfortably took the heat win from Bulgaria's former European champion Ivet Lalova-Collio in 11.09.
The slight surprise was the sluggish first round performance by 2013 world championships silver medallist Murielle Ahoure, who was outside of the top three places until a late surge by the Ivorian swept her into the final automatic qualification spot in 11.10.
Much of the pre-race buzz was about Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce's unusual look – yellow flowers perched on top of her long green-dyed hair – yet her wind-aided 10.88 (2.3mps) proved that post-race we were talking about her rare sprinting ability rather than her stylist, as she looked supremely impressive running from lane nine.
Unusually for the two-time former champion, she was beaten out of the blocks by African bronze medallist Marie-Josee Ta Lou and trailed the Ivorian for the first 70 metres until storming home in the latter stages. Ta Lou, who has a legal best of 11.06 set in Paris last month, herself ran a hugely impressive 10.95 with South Africa’s Carina Horn snatching third in 11.08.
Lane nine also provided the winner of heat five, as European champion Dafne Schippers produced a perfectly controlled run to stop the clock in 11.01.
For the first half of the race, the Dutchwoman trailed the quick-starting Semoy Hackett before she powered through to claim the heat win by 0.15 from the Trinidadian.
Jasmine Todd, the surprise third place finisher at US nationals, was significantly further back but banked the third automatic qualification spot in 11.29.
Despite the roars of the vociferous and colourful Jamaican spectators packed in the stands by the home stretch they had to settle for Sherone Simpson taking third in heat six in 11.22. Simpson, the 2008 Olympic silver medallist, led in the early stages until Kelly-Ann Baptiste assumed control. The Trinidadian, who looked to be running well within herself, clocked 11.13 to finish 0.04 clear of Mujinga Kambundji, who posted a Swiss record.
Former Pan American Games champion Rosangela Santos, of Brazil, was the slightly surprising winner of heat seven as her strong finish enabled her to finish 0.02 clear of this year’s world number two English Gardner.
It was the American who made the better start and led until 90m but, after glancing across in the final strides, she eased off in th final metres and this allowed Santos – competing in long white socks – the opportunity to take the heat win in 11.14.
Steve Landells for the IAAF
