Chambers eases through

Jul 27 2010

Dwain Chambers underlined his status as favourite for the 100 metres at the European Championships with a commanding performance in Tuesday's heats.

Chambers, who won the title in 2002 but had to hand back his gold medal following his positive drugs test the following year, stormed to victory in 10.21 seconds in Barcelona's Olympic Stadium.

The 32-year-old was quickly out of his blocks and led all the way into a headwind of 1.5 metres per second, easing down 15m before the line but still winning by 0.25secs from France's Ronald Pognon.

That secured his place in Wednesday's semi-final, with the final taking place just under two hours later.

"It was comfortable," Chambers said.

"It was a bit nerve-wracking to begin with as it always is for me. Getting the heats out the way is always tough and with the one false start rule I am not taking any chances."

France's Christophe Lemaitre, Chambers' main rival for the gold medal and fastest in Europe this year, was the quickest qualifier, winning the final heat in 10.19 ahead of Britain's Mark Lewis-Francis.

Lewis-Francis, an Olympic gold medal winner in the 4x100m relay in Athens, was quickest out of the blocks and led up to halfway before Lemaitre powered past.

Britain's James Dasaolu also advanced to the semi-finals after finishing third in his heat in 10.40.