WMACi World Championship report: 200m semifinal

As top seed, I got lane 5 in today's M55 semi final 200m heat, the first of 2.  I had Shane from Ireland to my outside in lane 6, who is a fast starter and 2 Japanese to my inside.

While warming up, Bill Collins asked me what lane and heat I had, when I told him he said, "me too"... smiled, shook my hand and said, "let's do this thing!"  That really took the edge off and left me smiling.

I got a decent start but it took me 100m to catch Shane as I entered the final bend. I took the lead on the turn and extended it a bit coming off the bank.  I won my heat by almost a half second. I finished in 24.86, faster than yesterday and equaling my 2nd fastest indoor 200m.  Shane broke an Irish National record and finished second.  Toru, who beat me in the Perth final, finished a distant third more than a second behind.

So, in tomorrow's final, Japan in lane one, Trinidad and Tobago in lane 2, Britain in 3, Ireland in 4, me in 5, and Britain in 6.  I'm feeling good and confident since my semi time exceeds that of any performance my competitors have logged in the past 2 yrs.  I want to win and go even faster tomorrow.  I'm shooting for my indoor PR (24.65) which was run at altitude in NM last year.  I think anything around 25 flat could win this.  I have enough of a margin that I could run slower than today and still win.