Men 60 metres heats
Aggelos Pavlakakis of Greece registered the fastest time in the first round of the men's 60 metres with a time of 6.59. His team-mate, Yeoryios Theodoris, also advanced as a heat winner with 6.65.
The first two in each heat, plus the eight next best times, qualify for the semi-finals, to be contested today at 16:00 local time.
The US also moved its two contestants forward to the next round as both Tim Montgomery (6.60) and Tim Harden (6.67)--the Maebashi silver medallist--were victorious.
Additional finalists from the 1999 World Championships who moved onward to the next round included Nigerian Deji Aliu, a winner in 6.62, and Matt Shirvington of Australia, who ran 6.62 behind the personal-best performance of Britain's Mark Lewis-Francis (6.61).
A surprising victim in the opening round was yesterday's silver-medal winner in the 200 metres, Christian Malcolm of Great Britain, whose 6.77 was the fastest of the non-qualifiers.
Another seasoned sprinter, Ibrahim Meite of Ivory Coast, also fell by the wayside with the same 6.77 clocking.
