Athletics: Hodgkinson through to 800m semis

New Zealand 800m hope Toni Hodgkinson qualified for Saturday's 800m semifinal at the Sydney Olympic Games.

She was fourth in her heats today but clocked one minute 59.37 seconds to be one of the six fastest away from the top two in each heat.

The top two in each qualified automatically.

Hodgkinson stumbled a little at the crunch when she was passed about 35m from the finish, but maintained her speed to finish with the fourth best qualifying time.

She started well from the gun in lane seven and cut in to settle into second place after the mandatory 200m distance she had to remain in her lane.

Hodgkinson, who ran 1min 58.25sec at the Atlanta Games four years ago, maintained second place behind Germany's Claudia Gesell until 300m from the end when the pace increased.

Austria's Stephanie Graf shot to the front and the New Zealander's attempt to ensure a second spot faded when Czech Republic's Helena Fuchsova overtook her.

She stumbled a little but pressed on for one of her best times over the distance.

Hodgkinson then faced an anxious wait for her time to flash up on the huge electronic scoreboard. She had been told that 2 minutes 2 seconds would get her through.

``I didn't get really excited,'' Hodgkinson said. ''You can't be excited unless you win.''

It turned out she had nothing to fear, her 1min 59.37sec easily qualifying her for the semifinals.

``It's nice to get through,'' she said. ''I didn't want get dropped out in the first round.''

It was a rough race, with the long-striding Hodgkinson getting jostled with 300m to go when lying second.

As Graf shot away for an easy win in the straight, Hodgkinson could not hold Gesell or Fuchsova.

Hodgkinson said she had found it hard running so fast early in the day - major track races are usually held in the evening, as the semifinals are to be.

Though she knew what time to aim for, she was not confident of making the next round even after running a time only 1.12secs off her best, run at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

Her difficult heat - six of the eight starters had bests of below two minutes - turned out to work in her favour.

Testimony to the ferocity of the competition was the demise of world champion Ludmila Formanova in heat three.

The Czech runner, suffering from a painful left ankle, pulled off the track with about 200m to go.

She left the track in tears but later spoke, confirming that her ankle had been hurting for several months.

``I think an operation will be necessary,'' said Formanova, who had not competed in two months.

``The long flight to Sydney wasn't good for my ankle and two days ago I felt a big pain.''

Formanova, who stormed to victory with a late charge at last year's world championships, admitted her Olympic dream was probably over, saying she probably would start a family before the 2004 Games.

The Czech has a personal best of 1min 56.62secs, nearly three seconds faster than the New Zealander.

Her departure leaves Mozambique's Maria Mutola as the favourite, after the world championship silver medallist easily won her heat in 1 min 59.88s.

American Hazel Clark was the last to scrape into the semifinals, running 2min 1.99secs.

Hodgkinson's Australian arch rival Tamsyn Lewis also made it through, running second to Maria Mutola of Mozambique in heat one.

Hodgkinson outkicked Lewis in a Brisbane race this month, in her last race before the Games.

- NZPA