Karen Shinkins is no stranger to the world stage of athletics, but yesterday in Edmonton she played her finest part to date in the heats 400 metres. A confident and composed third place saw her through to one of today's three World Championship semi-finals, and the nature of her run suggests she may even go further.
With only three automatic qualifiers, Shinkins faced a difficult assignment, not least because she was the fourth-ranked athlete in the race. Yet the experience of her previous championships finally came to light, bringing her home in third in 51.37 seconds - her fastest time in two years.
"I was cautious, because I was burned in Sydney and burned many times before by going out too fast," she said. "I knew the battle for the three places was going to be in the home straight, and I was clear in that position by then. And even closing on the leading two."
The temptation may have been to chase Germany's Grit Breuer - the event favourite in Cathy Freeman's absence. Yet Shinkins, running inside her in lane seven, moved from fifth to third approaching the straight and in the end wasn't far outside her Irish record of 51.37.
Breuer won in 50.71, the fastest of the six heats, with American Monique Hennagan runner-up in 51.12.
"Well I'm absolutely thrilled. My major championship form hasn't been the best for the last few years, but I'm going out there now and I'm not feeling too intimidated. I just focus on what I want to do. When you come to championships like this then the past experiences do play on your mind, the good and the bad.
"But you can't think about the bad too much. You have to think about what you did right. I did train hard through my last through races and took a chance on hitting a peak here. And I think it worked."
To see an Irish athlete join a German and an American in qualification puts a further positive spin on Shinkins' achievement, and the 25-year-old Newbridge athlete now goes in the semi-finals - where two automatically qualify with two fastest losers - with her eye at least on her Irish record.
Tactically, Daniel Caulfield ran in a similarly positive frame of mind in his 800 metre heat on Saturday, but he paid the price in the home straight and finished fourth, outside one of the two semi-final qualification berths.
The Roscommon athlete was looking for a slow run race. Instead, the first lap was pressed to a swift 51 seconds by Kenya's Wilfred Bungei and Caulfield decided to go with him, only to fade to fourth in 1:47.23. The Kenyan took the win in 1:44.73.
"Well I've sat and watched these championships for a number of years, saw people run and thought if I had that chance, then I'd go after it," he said. "I felt great and I was well up for it. But we came through in about 51 seconds, which is about as fast as I can handle, and that caught me fierce with around 200 metres to go."
Tomas Coman could also have done with a little more in reserve in the 400 metres, where he finished sixth in 45.90 - still a season's best and close to his fastest ever of 45.84. Having missed some of the summer through injury, the 21-year-old Templemore runner had no complaints.
"It was a pity about the last 100 metres, that's when I started to feel it. But I was injured earlier in the season and only back training in the last five weeks. I'm just that little bit off. Of course you're disappointed not to get into the second round because you know you could run faster is another race."
Robert Heffernan walked himself into near exhaustion in the 20km walk but was rewarded with a 14th place finish in 1:25.02, above his expectations. Roman Rasskazov led home a Russian trio in 1:20.31.
"The goal here was top 20, so for me, this is brilliant. The heat here is very deceptive, and I think that showed on a number of people. But I've only been at this level for two years now, and you have to be patient, and get that consistency over a number of years.
"I have been improving all my times over the shorter distances and there's no reason why I can mix it with the best in a couple more years."
