DEFENDING champion Omar McLeod led three other Jamaicans into the semi-final of the 110m hurdles as he sped to 13.17 seconds (0.2 m/s) to win heat one in convincing fashion.

Also through, but not so easily, were Andre Riley, Orlando Bennett and Ronald Levy. McLeod was first in action, and running out of lane nine, the Olympic champion hit the first and third hurdles, but was in control throughout and actually took the gas off the pedal close to home.

Milan Trajkovic of Cyprus was second in 13.37, with South Africa’s Antonio Alkana third in 13.41. American Devon Allen was fourth with 13.46 as six people from the heat advanced to the next round. McLeod said it was unusual for him to be running from an outside lane.

“It was awkward, I have never run from lane nine before. It’s awkward not having a hurdle beside so because of that you can lose focus but coach told me just to stay tight and just focus on my line and do enough to make the semi-finals and I did that,” said McLeod.

“I was out there blind with nobody to push me and I hit a couple of hurdles. Without that, it definitely would have been a 13.0 and that just tells that I am in great shape and I am ready to go,” McLeod noted.

He continued: “So semi-finals I am going to step it up a little more and hopefully in the final I can do something very special.”

McLeod, who changed coach a few weeks ago, and moved from Tony Ross to Rana Reider before the Championships started, said he had put himself in a position to defend his title.

“I wasn’t in the best situation in my opinion and you guys have seen the few races that I have had three back-to-back [bad] races, to be honest. I am the defending champion and I don’t take that lightly. So I needed to put myself in a position to show up ready,” he reiterated.

“I feel confident. I am peeking at the right time and I am really elated with the way how I feel,” he added.

As to the persons who doubted that switching coach at that time would not be sufficient to be ready, McLeod responded: “They have seen it. The last two races I had prior I ran 13.07, [ran] easy, felt good and I know I am in great shape and I am running times in practice that I have never ran before and I am in a great training group”.

He continued: “The coach knows what he is doing so it’s only up from here and that prelims really solidified that I am ready to go. I hit a few hurdles and still managed to run 13.1,” said McLeod.

Meanwhile, Riley was third in heat three in 13.67 (-0.4 mps) in a race that was won by Frenchman Pascal Martinot-Lagarde in 13.45.

“It was a difficult round considering the time that I ran. I am looking forward to just try forget about today since I made it through to the semi-final and try to execute on Wednesday,” said Riley.

He is the youngest member in the Jamaican camp but 19-year-old Orlando Bennett showed a lot of maturity as he recovered from a poor start to finish fifth in 13.50 and advanced to the semi-finals.

“I am grateful as I came out here and finish injury free. I had a little complication with the blocks but I can’t make any excuse, so I have to just continue to adjust,” said Bennett.

“It was really difficult and my coach told me that no matter what happened in the race you just have to keep going and run through the line and that’s what I did,” he explained.

Fourth up was Ronald Levy and he started slowly but finished strongly for second in 13.48 behind Orlando Ortega of Spain who won in 13.15.

“My start was poor and I can’t push too much as you can see my two shins are strapped. I have fractures in both of them. I will be OK as I think it was slight nerves but it’s over now,” said Levy.

Meanwhile, Akeem Bloomfield, Demish Gaye and Rusheen McDonald will bow into action in the men’s 400m that is set to begin 8:35 am Jamaican time.

Bloomfield is drawn in heat one and will line up against Machel Cedino of Trinidad and Tobago, Matthew Hudson- Smith of Great Britain and Brazilian Lucas Carvalho.

Demish Gaye will be in heat four and is pitted against race favourite Michael Norman of the US while Rusheen McDonald will be in heat five, and will have to contend with Steven Gardner of The Bahamas.