Scott Lincoln qualified for his first World Athletics Championships final, while the mixed 4x400m relay team also progressed as Novuna Great Britain and Northern Ireland made a strong start on day one in Tokyo.
Lincoln (Dale Stevenson, City of York) will be in the 12-man shot put final in Saturday’s evening session after qualifying with the fifth-best throw.
The 32-year-old saved his best for last, with a 21.0m effort comfortably good enough to progress and just 28 centimetres off his personal best.
He will line up in the final at 1.10pm BST.
“It is always nice to make your first world final, we will take it – we are on the right path,” he said.
“Competition is not quite where I am in training right now but it is getting closer, so that is exciting. Going to roll the dice in the final and see how we feel.”
Lincoln is not GB & NI’s only finalist on day one, with the mixed 4x400m team comfortably qualifying for the final at 2.20pm BST.
The quartet of Lewis Davey (Trevor Painter, Newham and Essex Beagles), Nicole Yeargin (Gregory Sholars, Pitreavie), Toby Harries (David Sadkin, Brighton Pheonix) and Yemi Mary John (Alan James, Woodford Green Essex Ladies) finished second in heat one, behind USA.
John ran a superb leg and lifted GB & NI from a marginal third place to second, crossing the line in a combined time of 3:10.22.
They will start in lane six for the final after clocking the second fastest time of the round.
“Our target was just to qualify, we knew we were going in to have a fast heat, our heat was stacked – three teams who had run 3:09 including us, whereas the second heat only had one 3:09 team,” John said.
“We knew we were going to be the hotter of the two heats so we just needed to go out there and stick to the plan. I think we did exactly that we came top two and we qualified.
“Since Budapest [2023] and Paris [2024] the relays have been seeing medals and very successful – we’re definitely going to have targets on our backs but that’s what makes it more exciting.”
Meanwhile, Cameron Corbishley (Andi Drake, Medway & Maidstone) was the first GB & NI athlete to compete in Tokyo, completing the gruelling 35km race walk in two hours 52 minutes and 15 seconds, good for 34th overall.
With temperatures in the high 20s and humidity nearing 80 percent, Corbishley was challenged like never before.
But six years after he was disqualified on his World Championships debut in Doha, simply getting around this time was an achievement, even if he inevitably wanted more.
“It’s definitely the hardest race that I’ve ever done,” he said.
“It was just tough from the beginning. The conditions, the heat and humidity just made it so hard. I struggled from the start, it was a battle the whole way around.
“I just tried to take each lap as it came, ticking them off one by one and just trying to get through it and get through to the finish. It’s something I’m proud of to stick out and get to the end.”
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