ISTANBUL, Turkey - Running two rounds of the 400 meters on the opening day of the IAAF World Indoor Championships produced qualification to the final for a pair of Aggie sprinters, Demetrius Pinder of the Bahamas and Tabarie Henry of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The pair of A&M sprinters, who were part of two national championship teams in 2010 and 2011 while also teaming up on four NCAA winning 4 x 400 relays, ran in the same prelim and semifinal during the first day of action.
In the final, which will be contested at 11:30 a.m. Saturday (CT) or 7:30 p.m. in Istanbul, Pinder will occupy lane five with Henry in lane three. Defending champion Chris Brown of the Bahamas is in lane four while World outdoor champion Kirani James of Grenada will be in lane one.
Pinder, who set the Bahamas indoor national record of 45.33 in winning the NCAA Indoor title at A&M's Gilliam Indoor Stadium last season, won his prelim in 46.49 with Henry placing second at 46.71.
In the semifinal U.S. champion Gil Roberts, who competed for Texas Tech in college, joined the Aggie pair.
Roberts, stationed in lane five between Henry and Pinder, had the lead at the 200m break. Pinder challenged Roberts for the lead through the curve while Henry was in third place.
Reaching the backstretch Pinder moved ahead of Roberts. Then Henry charged through the final curve to overtake Roberts as well. Pinder and Henry cruised to the finish while Roberts faded a bit in the race to the line and placed fourth. Only the top two finishers in each of the three semifinal heats advanced to the final.
"We trained well to run two races on the same day," noted Pinder. "Tomorrow will be another race and we will run for gold."
Pinder clocked 45.94, the top time among the semifinal races, and earned the prime position of lane five for the final. Henry produced a 46.01, his best time of the 2012 season.
"Pinder and I had a game plan throughout," Henry said. "I know I'm not a 20-point guy indoors so I can't run that fast to the break. So I kept my distance behind them and made my move once I saw Roberts tighten up."
Brown won the second semi in 46.37 over Pavel Masiak of Czech Republic. Nery Brenes of Costa Rica passed James in the final steps of the third heat for a 46.01 to 46.04 win.
Also competing at the World Indoor Championships was Aggie Gerald Phiri, representing Zambia in the 60 meters. Phiri led the field past the halfway point of the race, but pulled up a bit in the final 15m and placed second in his heat with a time of 6.86.
Phiri advanced to the semifinal, where he is set to run in the third heat from lane eight.
Natasha Ruddock was set to represent Jamaica in the 60 hurdles, but did not start her first round race. During warm-ups someone stepped in front of her, which caused Ruddock to stop suddenly. When she moved on to her approaches, her hamstring was still a bit of an issue.
"It was another repeat of Austin," noted Ruddock, who injured her knee in warm-ups during a NCAA regional meet a couple of years ago. "Luckily, it was my hammys this time instead of the knee.
"I was doing three-step warm-ups and had to suddenly stop because someone was crossing my lane. I felt a little jam then and when I was doing approaches I felt a little tweak in my hamstring."
The men's first round of the 60 hurdles takes place on Saturday and Aries Merritt, who trains in College Station, will run in the fourth heat from lane six. The first three in each heat plus the next four fastest times advance to the semifinal.