PALO ALTO (California), June 22: Maurice Greene eased through his 200 metres preliminary and world indoor champion Tyree Washington ran the fastest 400 in two years, at a windswept US championships on Saturday.
Greene clocked 21.10 seconds into a strong headwind of 5.3 metres per second (mps) to finish second in his race and 10th out of the 16 qualifiers for the semifinals.
The race was Greene’s first at the four-day meeting, which serves as the US trials for the world championships in Paris in August. He received a bye in the 100 metres as the world champion and opted to run only the 200 here.
Washington pushed hard out of the curve to win the 400 metres in 44.33 seconds and become the world championship favourite.
This year represents a comeback for Washington, who took nearly 18 months off in 2001-02 because of injuries and the stress of his sister’s murder trial and conviction.
Washington’s sister and her boyfriend were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after being convicted of suffocating one of her children.
Calvin Harrison (44.62 seconds) and Jerome Young (44.79) joined Washington in the world championship team.
Leading results (top three finishers qualify for the world championships in Paris, provided they have met the qualifying standard):