It was a busy morning, with a total of 8 of our athletes involved with heats or semi-finals in 5 events. 6 of them made it through successfully to the finals.
The women's 800m heats were first, with Rachael Franklin going in the third of 3 Heats. With the winners and 5 fastest losers going through, there was not much room for error especially as the first 2 heats had been fairly fast. Rachael went through the bell in 66 seconds, and although two of her rivals were fairly close she was able to ease down a little to take the win in 2.18.98. Every one of the 8 qualifiers for tomorrow's final recorded times between 2.17 and 2.20 suggesting the final will be very competitive and very exciting.
Tom Riley was next in Semi 2 of the men's 100 metres. After 2 false starts, the second of which saw the Isle of Wight athlete disqualified, the third attempt saw Tom finish 2nd in 11.00 to qualify for tonight's final.
Then it was the men's 1500 metres heats, with Andy Duncan and Tom Richmond both going in Heat 2. The first Heat, despite featuring the formidable Lee Merrien, was run at a pedestrian pace for the first 1100m resulting in fairly slow times, meaning that the 6 fastest losers places were up for grabs in Heat 2. Andy ran really well to finish 4th in 4.13.98, just outside his pb, to qualify easily for the final. He can proudly brag about posting a faster time than Lee Merrien! Tom Richmond ran strongly for the first couple of laps, but a recurrence of a foot injury caused him to slow after that and he finished in 8th place in 4.26.62 - still a season's best though.
Next up were the men's 400 metres semis. Ben Brand went in Semi 1, and ran extremely well throughout to finish in a comfortable 2nd place to qualify for the final. The standard in the men's 400 metres is very high, and to qualify for the final is a very fine performance. Ben just dipped under 50 to record 49.97 - there was some debate as to whether this is a pb. Peter Richardson went in Semi 2, and also ran very well indeed. He recorded a very decent time of 50.93 to finish 4th, but this wasn't enough to qualify for the final. Peter will be a vital member of both relay teams tomorrow. His semi was won by Guernsey's Tom Druce in a cracking time of 46.74 - just a whisker outside his fellow islander Dale Garland's Games record set 2 years ago.
There was drama in the women's 200m semis, in which Harriet Pryke and Sarah Dowling both went in semi 1. It was a desperately close finish, and from my position just before the finishing line it looked like Harriet had won with Sarah in 3rd just behind the Guernsey athlete - but when the times were posted the positions were reversed, with Sarah 1st and Harriet 3rd. The times of the first 3 were 25.62, 25.63 and 25.64! Sarah and Harriet both recorded pbs yet again, but with Harriet (who eased slightly in the last few metres) missing out on automatic qualification for the final there was an agonising wait to see what times would be recorded by the 3rd and 4th finishers in the second semi. Thankfully they were slower, and both Sarah and Harriet will be in with a real chance in tonight's final.
It is sure to be another exciting evening at the stadium tonight - can we add to the 7 medals we have won so far? I believe we can, and the evening will start on a high with Gemma Astin collecting her bronze medal for last night's 5000 metres.
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