Athletics: David Gillick produced a solid display when finishing third to qualify in his 400 metres heat at the World Championships in Osaka this morning.
The two-times European indoor champion, was drawn in the toughest qualifier featuring Jeremy Wariner, the American winner of the title two years ago in Helsinki.
Wariner took just 45.10seconds to canter around the same oval track where at the beginning of May he posted a stunning mark of 44.02secs when winning the IAAF Grand Prix leg there.
The Olympic champion this morning was more leisurely, winning ahead of Avard Moncur the 2001 gold medallist from Bahama who clocked 45.27secs.
Then came 28-year-old Gillick, more than happy to be back in action after having spent a fortnight preparing for the championships at an acclimatisation camp outside of Osaka.
"I was really relieved to get through and I am delighted because that was a difficult heat," said Gillick after clocking 45.35secs.
Gillick, like teammate Derval O'Rourke the previous morning, found the stifling heat inside the stadium very uncomfortable.
The Irish record holder, whose best this summer is 45.23secs, said: "It was very warm 31 degrees at 7.30, the sweat was pouring out of me it felt unreal."
Gillick, looking forward to his semi-final on Wednesday night, added: "It never was going to be easy. I was surprised the time was so quick because I felt relaxed and fluent and eased up towards the end."
Also this morning, Paul Hession qualified for the second round of the 200 metres after finishing second in his heat in a time of 20.46 seconds while Eileen O'Keefe progressed safely to Thursday's hammer final.