If the finallists carry forward their semifinal form to tomorrow night's showdown between two of the superstars of American track, then Allyson Felix, the defending champion, will surely extend her reign by another two years, for here she looked supreme.
Her semi-final looked to have all the quality of a championship final, with European double sprint champion Kim Gevaert of Belgium drawn on the inside (although she would withdraw without competing), and, extraordinarily, for the third time here in Osaka, Jamaica's new 100m World champion Veronica Campbell was drawn alongside American rival Torri Edwards.
Yet Felix dispensed with the challenges of Campbell and the US 100m champion as if they were mere junior runners, coming into the final 20m of this race with a four-metre advantage, even easing down. Felix clocked 22.21 as Campbell scrambled past Edwards in 22.44 to the American's season's best 22.51, making it 3-0 in their 200m encounters in Osaka.
Sanya Richards, deprived of the chance to race at her better distance, the 400m, by the US selection system, has long looked like the biggest threat to Felix.
But here, she had to work harder and for longer, to achieve primacy in her semi-final, winning in 22.50 from Jamaican Aleen Bailey's 22.65.
Susanthika Jayasinghe of Sri Lanka, 10 years after winning a silver medal in this event, will contest the final again after clocking 22.66, with a fourth American, LaShauntea Moore (22.73) completing the final octet.
Osaka 2007 News Team/sd
