BEIJING, China – Christopher Brown of the Bahamas has qualified fastest for the semifinal of the Men’s 400m at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, with a time of 44.79 seconds in this morning’s preliminary round.
Australia’s Joel Milburn will go into tomorrow night’s semifinal ranked second after running a personal best time of 44.80 seconds, just ahead Sweden’s Johan Wissman, who ran a season best time of 44.81 seconds.
Brown is the third-fastest 400m runner in the world this year, clocking a national record of 44.40 seconds in Oslo in June, and then a 44.53 second run in Stockholm – finishing second to the US’s Jeremy Wariner on both occasions.
A 400m semifinalist in Athens 2004, Brown has the potential to challenge for a top spot.
Pre-race favorites Wariner and Lashawn Merritt qualified 15th and sixth respectively, with Wariner comfortably taking his heat, despite slowing right down before the finish.
Wariner has declared that he is chasing dual Olympic champion Michael Johnson’s (USA) world record of 43.18 set at the worlds in Seville in 1999.
The 24-year-old is the only athlete in the world to have gone under the 44-second mark this year.
