Lashinda Demus impressive in her 400m Hurdles semi-final (© Getty Images)
Jamaica's dream of producing gold and silver linings in the 400 Hurdles came under massive scrutiny when Melanie Walker and Kaliese Spencer both failed to win their semi-finals.
Spencer could only manage third in her heat won by Bulgaria's Vania Stambolova while Walker was second as Russian champion Natalya Antyukh ran riot from start to finish around the track to beat her by 0.46sec in 54.51.
Both did qualify albeit Spencer as a fastest loser but the looks on the faces of both the current World leader and Walker who is the defending champion after crossing the finish line, clearly showed they hadn't been expecting the whirlwinds unleashed upon them by their European opponents.
While they came to terms with what awaits them in the final, two-time silver medallist Lashinda Demus showed her class and thrust herself into favourite's slot with the fastest qualifying time of 53.82 ahead of Czech record holder Zuzana Hejnova.
It was a confident, determined performance from the 28-year-old USA champion who has raced sparingly this summer to concentrate on finally taking the elusive victory and a gold medal back to show her twin sons Duane and Donte born in 2007.
Spencer had to sweat it out until the finish of the three semis before learning she had progressed and initially in the first semi it looked to be plain sailing for the current Samsung Diamond League league leader. Going off quickly she led from the first hurdle until coming into the home straight.
There Stambolova the European silver medallist last summer in Barcelona and Russia's Yelena Churakova began making inroads into her very marginal lead of around a metre.
Then the Bulgarian winner struck coming off the ninth obstacle to power ahead before the next and finish in 54.72 with the Russian runner getting the verdict when sharing the same time of 55.02 with Spencer.
Antyukh the 2004 Olympic 400 flat bronze medallist started off like a gazelle in her race and coming off the final bend there was only ever going to be one winner as she devoured up the track down the home straight.
Behind her Walker had another problem fighting off Ukrainian Anastasiya Rabchenyuk who went through as the second fastest loser in 55.06.
Now the scene is set for what should be a live Jamaica versus Russia versus the United States battle in the final. After the semis most punters would put their money on Demus.
Lauren Lee and David Martin for IAAF
