Holmes sets sights on second gold

Kelly Holmes plans to forget she is an Olympic champion as she goes all out for a second gold medal.

Holmes admitted she found it hard to concentrate on the heats of the 1500 metres less than 24 hours after storming to 800m glory in Athens.

But the 34-year-old repeated the tactics which paid such dividends last night to ease through to the semi-finals and earn a well-deserved rest day tomorrow.

Holmes recorded a time of four minutes 05.58 seconds to finish second in her heat, coming from virtually last with 250m to go.

She was joined in the semi-finals by team-mate Hayley Tullett – who qualified as a fastest loser in a time of 4:07.27 – but Jo Pavey understandably missed out after finishing fifth in the 5000m final late last night.

“The slow pace helped, I didn’t fancy another sprint after last night,” Holmes admitted.

“It was very hard to come out and focus because I was trying to wave to all the crowd, and then I remembered I’m actually there to race.

“Now I can have a rest tomorrow and I want to relax and take my mind away from everything. I want to come back on the start line and pretend I never won last night. I’ve got my dream but I will focus on the 1500m.”

Earlier Darren Campbell and Christian Malcolm had qualified for the semi-final of the 200m, but doubts remains whether Campbell will be able to take his place in the line-up.

The silver medallist from Sydney has been hampered by a hamstring injury in Athens – crashing out in the first round of the 100m – and pulled up after finishing fourth in his heat in a time of 20.59 seconds.

Campbell collapsed to the ground and looked in severe pain before he managed to get to his feet and hobble off the track.

He went through as the slowest qualifier despite equalling his season’s best and has been drawn in lane one for the semi-final, with Malcolm also scraping through after a time of 20.56.

Malcolm, who was hospitalised for nine days earlier this month with a kidney problem, said: “Two weeks ago I was told I wouldn’t be running here but I made a good recovery and I’ve got to look on the up side that my health is important.

“I’ve trained hard for 11 months for this and I felt this year would be my year so for something to go wrong two weeks before is disheartening in a big way.

“I’m having blood tests every day and it hasn’t reached normal but it’s not far off.

“You never know, miracles happen and at least I’m in the semi-final. But it’s not me out there, it’s painful, physically and mentally.”

Sprinter Abi Oyepitan then went one better and demonstrated her enormous potential by qualifying for the final of the 200m on her Olympic debut.

The 24-year-old Londoner finished second in the first semi-final in a time of 22.56secs, just 0.06 of a second outside the personal best she set in the first round.

“It’s indescribable, I can’t believe it,” said Oyepitan. “There is nothing like it. I didn’t work in the first 100m and I think there is a lot more to come.”

She is the first British woman to reach the Olympic 200m final since Cathy Cook in 1984, and added: “Someone told me that earlier and it’s fantastic. I’m in an Olympic final, what can I say?

“I slept really well, had a nice bath and hopefully it will be the same tomorrow. I probably won’t sleep at all though because it’s the Olympic final but I don’t care.”

Middlesbrough’s Chris Tomlinson also produced a brilliant performance to qualify for the long jump final.

The 22-year-old needed to jump further than 8.10m or be among the top 12 finishers from the two groups to reach his first Olympic final, and after opening with 7.76m leapt out to 8.23m to secure his place.

That was his second longest ever and just four centimetres off his personal best, and he promised more to come in the final.

“Who knows how far I can jump, but if I can get my foot on the board it could be a long way,” he said. “It’s my first Olympic Games and it will be pedal to the metal going for it.

“I’m going to have a real go in the final, I’ll go down trying. It’s a nice time to pull out my second best ever jump. I knew I was in good shape and I was expecting it to happen.”

There was not such good news for Dean Macey and Chris Rawlinson however, whose medal bids came to an end – Rawlinson’s in painful fashion.

The 32-year-old from Rotherham finished last in his semi-final, clattering into the first hurdle with his left knee, later claiming he could not see the barrier properly due to an advertising board in the background.

He was carried off the track on a stretcher and looks certain to miss the 4x400m relay.

Macey’s medal challenge in the decathlon was coming to a more heroic end with just the dreaded 1500m to come.

Macey had slipped to fifth in the overall standings with just two events remaining and remained in that position after a throw of 58.46m in the javelin.

The 26-year-old was only 11 points behind Holland’s Chiel Warners in fourth however, a remarkable achievement having only completed one decathlon in the last three years, obtaining the ‘B’ qualifying standard in Hexham last month.