Australian sprint star Rohan Browning made light of a minor knee ailment after booking his spot in the 100m semi-finals at the Australian athletics championships in Adelaide.
In cool conditions which were hardly conducive to fast sprinting, Browning won his heat in 10.43 seconds – the third-fastest time overall behind pacesetter Sebastian Sultana (10.38).
But the New South Welshman, who sits second on the Australian all-time list with a PB of 10.01 set at the Tokyo Olympics, still shapes as the man to beat in Saturday’s final.
“I’ve just been carrying a little knee niggle,” said Browning.
“I haven’t been able to do any accelerations for the last three weeks and I’m just trying to build through the rounds.
“I think my top end (speed) is really good but I’ve got to be able to set the race up.
“I feel like I’m about a week away from being fully fit but the championships are this week so I had to turn up.”
With 100m national record holder Torrie Lewis focusing solely on the 200m this weekend, Bree Masters (11.48), Ebony Lane (11.49) and national under-20 champ Alexsandra Stoilova (11.51) set the pace in the women’s 100m heats.
Rising star Stoilova ran a wind-assisted 11.15 in the US last month.
Bendere Oboya (two minutes 03.05 seconds) led all of the big names into what will be a star-studded women’s 800m final on Sunday.
Oboya – who has made a successful transition from the 400m to the two-lap race – won the quickest of the three heats on Friday afternoon.
National record holder Catriona Bisset, Commonwealth Games 1500m bronze medallist Abbey Caldwell and teen sensation Claudia Hollingsworth also booked their spots in the title race in what shapes as the best event of the national championships.
Tokyo Olympics finalist Peter Bol was completely untroubled in advancing the semis of the men’s 800m.
Bol went to the front early in his heat and eased away to win in 1:51.03.
The semis are on Saturday.
Former US collegiate star Camryn Newton-Smith took a large step towards becoming Australia’s first Olympic heptathlete in 16 years by winning the national title with a personal best total of 6180 points.
Newton-Smith – who spent five years at Arkansas State University – had PBs in three of the seven events and moved up to fifth spot on the Australian all-time list.
Tori West was second with 6079 points, also a personal best.