Heat on for Turnbull but maybe not heats

Athletics World Championships: For the past 10 days Gareth Turnbull has been trying to psyche himself up for the most important event so far in his running career - the World Championship 1,500 metres.

It is one of the most cherished titles on offer in Paris over the next nine days, with a guarantee that nothing will come easy.

So Turnbull was a little surprised when he came down to the Stade de France yesterday to find tomorrow's three scheduled heats might be shelved, and the final places decided instead by just two semi-finals on Monday.

Such a filtered entry list reflects the increasingly unrealistic qualifying standards set by the IAAF.

In all previous eight editions of the world championships, three rounds have been necessary to reduce the 1,500-metre entries to 12 finalists.

Yesterday's list of entries for Paris contained just 31 names, and at least five of them are known to have withdrawn (including, incidentally, Ireland's James Nolan, who had also been entered, though only Turnbull had the right to run after winning the national title earlier this month).

While the official entry lists will be finalised today at the technical meeting prior to tomorrow's opening session, it is difficult to see how the IAAF could justify running three heats to eliminate a handful of athletes.

"My understanding is they need 37 entries to run the heats," said Turnbull. "And I can't see how they'll make up that number now. I assume I'll find out at least 24 hours before I have to run, but to be honest it's all the same to me if I run on Saturday or next Monday. It won't upset my focus.

"The only problem is I have been gearing up for the last 10 days to run on Saturday. But I'd be foolish to second-guess them now. And I could argue for and against having to run heats before the semi-finals. But that would be window dressing. You might feel a little better about yourself if you come out of a heat, but the principal thing is I still want to do the very best I can."

Already the IAAF have agreed to cancel the first-round heats of the men's 110 metres hurdles and the women's 100 metres hurdles (thus reducing Peter Coghlan's and Derval O'Rourke's schedule). But removing heats of the 1,500 metres might not be such an easy decision, not least because the event has been set as one of the main TV attractions for tomorrow evening's session.

But it is clear that even the best metric milers in the world have been struggling to reach the IAAF qualifying standards. Only 14 of the entries were below the A standard of three minutes 34.90 seconds, and Turnbull himself had narrowly dipped under the B standard of 3:37.10 with his lifetime best of 3:36.60 in Germany last month.

And it was surely no coincidence that a press release was soon circulating the media centre here yesterday revealing that the IAAF had agreed to soften the qualifying standards for next year's World Indoor Championships.

With or without heats Turnbull has not lost sight of his race plan - to get his nose as close to the front as possible at the finish. And with the greater emphasis on tactics that comes with championship running, a place in Wednesday's final shouldn't be ruled out.

"I had planned to get one more race after winning the national title last Sunday week," explained the Belfast athlete, "but my coach (John Morrin) and I decided instead to properly taper over the 10 days, and do everything as professionally as we could. And that has worked out nicely."

Although it is his first major championships on the track, the 24-year-old hasn't lost his laid-back approach to big days on the track.

"Well, I'd still go through exactly the same routine no matter what race it is I'm building up for," he says. "And that means playing the same games of Cluedo and Scrabble, and just relaxing with other team members in the same way."

Whether he runs tomorrow or on Monday, Turnbull can expect the TV cameras to be fixed firmly on his event largely because of the presence of one man - Morocco's world-record holder Hicham El Guerrouj, the man seeking a fourth successive 1,500 metres title.

"Well, you know I still hold an unbeaten record against El Guerrouj," added Turnbull.

"It's just I haven't raced him yet. But to be honest I think the man to beat is the French athlete Mehdi Baala. He's been so well looked after this season and he definitely will have a good crack at El Guerrouj.

"But none of that is my concern anyway. I'm going out to run my race and if I'm not where I want to be at the finish then it won't be through the lack of trying."

Adding to the significance of the event is the fact El Guerrouj has also announced his intention to attempt a 1,500m-5,000m double, a feat never before achieved at the world championships.

The Moroccan is the fastest entry in both events, but has still to prove himself over the longer distance. And the man he'll most likely have to beat here is the Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele, who himself is attempting to double up by first winning the 10,000 metres final on Sunday night.

The sprint events form much of the opening weekend session, with the men's 100 metres final set for Monday night, and the women's the night before.

Nerves always play a greater part in that race and Britain's Dwain Chambers yesterday found the athletes' village totally unsuited to his needs and booked himself into a hotel. But it was, he insisted, nothing to do with the pressure of being Britain's only real hope of a gold medal.