No go-slow for Mo
AAA champion Mo Sillah-Freckleton produced a solid performance to progress into the 60m hurdles semi-finals on the second day of the World Indoor Championships in Budapest.
Wearing a Norwich Union GB team vest for the first time at a major championships, the debutant finished a confident third in a time of 7.75seconds.
The 23-year-old London health club fitness adviser was beaten across the line by the much more experienced Maurice Wignall and Shaun Bownes.
Jamaica’s Wignall, the Commonwealth 110m bronze medallist in 2002 when Bownes surprisingly defeated Colin Jackson for the title in Manchester, finished 0.06sec ahead of the South African in 7.67sec.
British number one Rob Newton was again out of luck as he was knocked out in his heat with a below-par performance.
After failing to finish in last month’s trial race, which marked the emergence of Sillah-Freckleton, Newton hampered his chances by false starting.
The unwanted additional pressure in the most loaded race of the preliminary rounds, saw the Sale Harrier finish second-last in 7.80sec.
Victory went to Latvia’s former European champion Stanislavs Olijars in 7.64sec ahead of Jamaica’s Dwight Thomas and the defending champion Allen Johnson.
There was a nasty-looking incident in the second heat when Johnson’s US team-mate and another medal favourite Duane Ross crashed to the ground after colliding with the second hurdle.
Ross appeared to slip on making his approach and was carried off nursing what looked like a bad elbow injury.
