Bolt safely through to 200m semis

Athletics : Defending world 200m champion Usain Bolt got back into the swing of things after his 100m woes by easily qualifying…

Athletics: Defending world 200m champion Usain Bolt got back into the swing of things after his 100m woes by easily qualifying for the semi-finals in Daegu on Friday.

Bolt played up to the crowd as usual with his pre-race antics, also chatting with competitors in the first heat who suffered a seven-minute delay due to malfunctioning starting equipment.

That must have been the last thing Bolt wanted to see, but the Jamaican also shrugged off being out in lane seven to comfortably win the heat in 20.30secs, with Britain's Christian Malcolm in fourth in 20.66.

British team captain Malcolm scraped through as a fastest loser but said: "I just didn't run well this morning and I'm very disappointed. I'm not going to make excuses, there are always little things you can put your finger on in cases like this but I didn't perform."

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Team-mate James Ellington failed to advance after also finishing fourth in his heat, adding: "The race was bad. I got out okay but in the fourth or fifth stride I stumbled slightly. I am really disappointed as I came here to compete, not just to make up the numbers."