I won my round one heat today in 58.96, faster than I really wanted to run, but I got it done. I was totally surprised by the Polish champion, Waldemar P. who went out in a crazy 26.9.... crazy for him because that's about how fast he runs a 200m. My 200m split was nominal, probably 27.2 ish. He made a move on the far turn and won the the break. I could've challenged him for it, but I let him go and stayed close behind. It turns out that was the fastest 200m split of any heat of the 6 heats, by a lot, like almost a second. As expected he faded about the 270m mark and I eased past him before the final turn, showing him the nice shiny purple soles of my Adidas. The extra energy expended made it a hard effort and I did rig a little in the last 10m. Based on Waldemar's history, this was his fastest 400m in 6 yrs, he finished in 59.88. He ran 61 at his Nationals recently, 26.98 in the 200m.
I was third fastest qualifier and of all the top qualifiers, I ran by far the most uneven splits. As expected, John W. cruised to an easy win in 57.93 with no effort, running almost even splits 28/29. My splits were like 27.2/31.7. Phillipe from France was right behind John in 58.87, his splits were about 28.9/30.
The big news of the day is my draw for semi-final. I got really lucky. The fastest guy will probably be Vadim to my outside in lane 6, who also is generally not a fast starter, doesn't use blocks, ran 60.48 in round one, with a first 200m split of 28.3. He did run 57 last year outdoors so he's capable. 3 other guys in this heat I've beaten already... Waldemar (again), Stuart, and Marcus. Waldemar has the fastest round one time behind me in this heat, but has lane 3. I have lane 5. I wonder if he'll try and pull that super fast start again tomorrow? Either way, I should win the heat and if I do, I'll get lane 4 or 6 depending on the likely heat 3 winner, Darren. World champ John will certainly get lane 5.
Getting adjusted to the time, slept last night for 7 or 8 hrs in 3 shifts.
Here are some photos from today:
1) 320m mark
2) home stretch
3) call room
4) Post race with Rox in the Team USA Normatec compression machines
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