Athletics: Willis cruising towards 1500m final

Nick Willis looks right on track for the world championships 1500m final after cruising through his heat in Helsinki yesterday.

Athletics New Zealand performance manager Eric Hollingsworth said Willis and compatriot Adrian Blincoe both qualified for the 1500m semifinals on the opening day of the games and Kimberley Smith finished 15th in the 10,000m final.

In the third of three heats, Willis ran well within himself in a slowly-run heat to sprint from the pack into third place in a time of three minutes 39.89 seconds.

It qualified Willis 13th fastest for tomorrow's semifinals (5.05am NZT) and was more than 7s outside his New Zealand record set last month, which ranked him ninth in the world this year.

"It was good to see a New Zealand athlete controlling a race to some degree.

"We're hoping for something good from him this week," Hollingsworth said.

"We've always had reasonably high expectations for him and, for me, he's a finalist for sure."

Blincoe finished 10th in a red-hot first heat, behind gold medal favourite Mehdi Baala of France in a time of 3min 39.54s which ranked him 11th.

Hollingsworth labelled it "a baptism of fire" for Blincoe, who only qualified for the championships last week.

He said Blincoe was an outside chance of making the final.

"It was a flat-out race which suits Adrian, but he's still adjusting to the top level."

Hollingsworth rated Smith's 15th placing "an excellent effort".

Smith, who felled Nyla Carroll's national 5000m and 10,000m records this year, ran 31min 24.29s for 15th. The time was 3s outside her national record.

"I'm sure next time she goes out she will break the record again. She's still a developing athlete at international level."

She finished fourth in the Commonwealth, with Hollingsworth saying it signalled her a big medal hope in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne next year.

The final was an Ethiopian trifecta as the three burst away from the field with a lap remaining.

Tirunesh Dibaba - the 2003 world 5000m gold medallist - beat defending champion Berhane Adere into second place with a winning time of 30min 24.02s. Dibaba's older sister, Ejegayehu, was third.

- NZPA