Posted: August 28, 2007

Athletics: Gay, Spearmon Advance in the 200 at IAAF World Championships

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Former Razorbacks Tyson Gay and Wallace Spearmon advanced to the semifinals of the 200 meters at the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan. In the prelims, Gay won heat two of six with a time of 20.46. Spearmon, running in heat six, finished third with a 20.45. Both automatically advanced to the quarterfinals later the same day. "Mentally I'm kind of down right now", Gay said. "My left hamstring bothers me some, but at the same time this is a business and this is what I'm here to do. In the quarterfinals, Gay won his heat with a time of 20.08, the fastest quarterfinal time, and Spearmon was second in his heat with a time of 20.26. Both automatically advance to the semifinals. Rodney Martin, Team USA's third competitor in the event, also advanced to the semifinals, winning his quarterfinal heat in a time of 20.25. "I'm just trying to make it through the rounds as easy as possible," Spearmon said. "(Usain) Bolt took it out about 20.1 and it looks like he's in shape. I'm actually satisfied. I was nervous before the race. Now I'm comfortable. Every race I feel I'm getting back into championship form." Results from the 200-meter semifinals, taking place on Tuesday, will be posted as soon as they are available. Former Razorbacks Alistair Cragg (5,000 meters) and Eric Brown (javelin) will also be competing at the IAAF World Championships later this week. Visit www.usatf.org or www.iaaf.org for more details and an updated schedule. Highlights from the World Championships will be air on NBC and the Versus network. Visit USATF.org for a detailed schedule. Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest