Chambers cruises into semis

Dwain Chambers moved smoothly into the 60metres semi finals on the opening day of the World Indoor Championships in Valencia.

Chambers, confident he can become only the second British winner of the title, is ready to step up a gear in his bid to make tonight’s final.

The 29-year-old former drug cheat was never extended when winning his first round encounter without any real opposition in a time of 6.69seconds.

That was the sixth fastest mark in the eight qualifying rounds and well short of his season’s quickest of 6.56sec which won him last month’s championships trial race.

Chambers, given the quality of his rivals and a first prize of 40,000 US dollars beckoning the gold medallist, can be expected to move much closer to that time.

The main contenders performance-wise – with the exception of Nigeria’s world leader Olusoji Fasuba – are fairly evenly matched and the race is the most wide open for a long time.

That will make Chambers, whose lifetime best is 6.55seconds, even more determined to post a fast time to ensure himself a good lane draw.

Simeon Williamson will be in a similar state of mind after progressing through his heat also in 6.69sec well clear of Germany’s Marius Broening and Dutchman Maarten Heisen.

Kelly Sotherton, a gold medal favourite for the pentathlon and starting with a winning 60m hurdles win, dropped two positions after an indifferent high jump display

Last year’s European silver medallist jumped 1.81metres – to score only 991 points – and fell behind Tia Hellebaut and Anna Bogdanova.

Hellebaut, the European indoor and outdoor high jump champion, cleared 1.99m to raise her tally after two events to 2232, with Bogdanova of Russia clearing 1.84m.

Sotherton ended the morning session with a score of 2064pts and now will have to hit her best form in the shot, long jump and 800m, if she is to live up to her pre-meet billing.

Chris Tomlinson, with his first effort of 7.95metres, automatically qualified for Sunday’s long jump final, while Lisa Dobriskey and Helen Clitheroe made tomorrow’s 3000m final.

Mo Farah, with a very aggressive performance, also progressed through his 3000m qualifier when gallantly chasing home the highly fancied Edwin Soi of Kenya and Ethiopia’s Tariku Bekele.

Jeanette Kwakye and Laura Turner, both finishing runners-up in their heats with marks of 7.33sec and 7.34sec, also moved into their 60m semis later today.