BATON ROUGE — The first day of competition at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics belonged to former LSU stars Richard Thompson and Isa Phillips as both athletes advanced through the first day of qualifying in their respective events at Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany.
Thompson was the first to step onto the track and qualified for the semifinal round of the 100-meter dash to be run Sunday, while Phillips also qualified for Sunday’s semifinal round of the 400-meter hurdles.
Thompson, the reigning Olympic silver medalist from Trinidad & Tobago, won his opening round heat of the 100 meters on Saturday with an easy time of 10.36 seconds. He then returned to the track later in the evening and took second place in his quarterfinal heat with an improved time of 10.08.
The semifinal round of the men’s 100-meter dash is set to run at 12:10 p.m. CT with the top four finishers in each heat advancing to the World Championships final to be run at 2:35 p.m.
Phillips followed Thompson’s effort on Saturday evening with an outstanding performance of his own as he won his first-round heat of the men’s 400-meter hurdles with a time of 48.99. The Jamaican opened the World Championships as a serious threat to take home the gold in the event as he currently ranks No. 3 in the world with a seasonal best and personal best time of 48.05.
Phillips will line up in the semifinal round of the 400 hurdles on Sunday at 1:15 p.m. CT. NBC will carry live coverage of Sunday’s action at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics from 1-3 p.m.
Five other former LSU athletes will compete for the first time on Sunday as Neisha Bernard-Thomas of Grenada and Marian Burnett of Guyana will run in the first round of the women’s 800 meters at 3:10 a.m. CT, while Muna Lee of the United States and Kelly Baptiste of Trinidad & Tobago race in the 100 meters at 4:55 a.m. American Walter Davis will also compete in the men’s triple jump qualifying at noon.