KEY POINTS:
Kimberley Smith came away from the track after finishing fifth in the 10,000m at the world track and field championships yesterday dis-appointed at not winning a medal but happy with her placing.
Smith was in with a chance for the bronze medal with two circuits of the 25-lap race left. The defending champion, Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia, had the gold medal for the taking on the last lap and former 5000m world record holder Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey was well clear in second.
This left Smith, Kara Goucher of the United States and Joanne Pavey of Great Britain to battle it out for the bronze.
Goucher challenged first and made a break that she held to the finish and Pavey had the measure of Smith going into the final lap.
Running in extremely hot, humid conditions Dibaba recorded a slow 31m 55.41s, beating Abeylegesse by 4s.
Another 4s separated Goucher, Pavey and Smith, with Smith running 32m 6.89s.
Smith said it was hard to be so close and then fall short.
"It was there for the taking, the bronze medal. It was before the race and I knew that," she said.
"I felt the heat, but those girls have a strong kick, they're both faster 1500m runners than me.
"Jo Pavey is a really good runner and I look up to her, so to come one place behind her is pretty good, but it's very disappointing to come so close to a medal."
Smith said the race was pretty slow at the start, with lots of pushing and shoving.
"Fifth place is very good, I mean I know that. Not many New Zealanders have gone quite fifth on the track. I don't know when the last was, so I mean I'm happy with that, but it's very disappointing."
It took just one throw from Valerie Vili to qualify for the final of the shot-put. Needing a put of 18.35m or better, Vili sent the ball of steel out to an impressive 19.45m, the best of the 12 who qualified.
Vili, a bronze medallist at the 2005 world championships in Helsinki, was well clear of her challengers for the gold.
Nadzeya Ostapchuck of Belarus threw 20.34m this year but scraped into the final 12 by only 4cm with 18.23m, and Petra Lammert of Germany (20.04m this year) qualified with 18.72m.
Nadine Kleinert of Germany was the next best qualifier with 19.17m.
Nick Willis qualified for the semifinal of the 1500m today, after finishing seventh in his heat.
He ran 3m 40.18s - the fastest of the extra six fastest qualifying times. Willis started as he had planned, moving up from the rear of the field with 600m remaining, but couldn't hold a top-six placing.
"I didn't think the heat would be a bigger factor. Even before the race people were sweating a bunch," said Willis.
"No one wanted to be aggressive ... I ran the exact race that I wanted to execute. I just wasn't able to finish it off, and now I think I want to go off and throw up somewhere."
Gareth Hyett did not make it into the semifinals after finishing 11th in his heat in 3m 45.70s.
Other New Zealanders in action today are Beatrice Faumuina in the qualifying rounds of the discus and Michael Aish in the final of the 10,000m.
* Steeplechaser Guenther Weidlinger of Austria was taken to hospital with facial injuries after a nasty fall in the heats of the 3000m steeplechase.
Weidlinger stumbled and smashed into a hurdle face-first, splitting his lip and cutting his jaw.
A brain scan showed no damage.
