More magic from Machel Cedenio sent the Doha crowd at the IAAF World Championships into shock and then uproar as he stunned a star-studded field in the men’s 400 metres semifinal on Wednesday, leaving many in awe.
It was the sort of front-running tactics that legends are made of. The local quarter-miler racing from lane seven against the world-leading 400m athlete, USA’s Michael Norman, set about the race with a terrific start and pulsating speed up the back straight to lead from the 100m-mark and turning into the straight had time to glance around and win majestically unchallenged in an ease-down time of 44.41 seconds.
"That was the plan, my coach said the race would be hot. I went out fast as my coach told me to do that given the type of race it was and also the first two heats and turning into the straight. I looked to my left and my right and there was no one coming, I was surprised," said Cedenio, who at one point held a lead of five metres in the home straight before he relaxed close to home with Colombia's Anthony Zambrano in second and Jamaica’s Akeem Bloomfield in third. Favourite Norman finished in a distressed seventh position.
Cedenio, who was carried off on a wheelchair after the race, assured that everything was "okay".
"I am okay, that is funny, all of this international press and I just wanted to come straight to talk to you that is all but they told me to go back through some of the media," Cedenio told Guardian Media Sports.
There is a full day before the final on Friday and Cedenio welcomes that.
"That was always the plan so I will return to hotel get some rest, get some treatment, talk with my team and just get myself ready for the final,” said the national champion who was hoping for a good lane assignment.
"I would like one of the lanes right in the mix where you can see everything and that would be great but whatever happens as I am not concerned about anybody, I need to run my race.
"I want to thank all of those in T&T that keep showing me love and belief, keep it coming it means a lot," declared Cedenio, whose teammate is the current 200m World champion American Noah Lyles. Both are coached by Lance Brauman
"Yes it is great to be able to practice with him and I congratulate him on a great run and win and of course it helps training with him."
Cedenio reached the Olympics 2016 final and finished fourth and this time he is seeking more.
"As I said before, it is time to win a medal, it is the time, there is no better time than now and so on Friday (tomorrow), everything is geared towards that."
Earlier on, 23-year-old Portious Warren had her first experience of international competition at this level and finished in 19th position overall in the women's shot put with a best throw of 17.46m.
An encouraged Warren told Guardian Media: "This is my first World Championships and it was good to look around at the others with more experience and learn from this. It has certainly given me the drive to go home and work even harder toward the Tokyo Olympics, I gave it my best.
"I aim to correct certain areas that I have identified so that my distances can improve. I have three weeks off first and then it is back to driving myself because at the end of the day, you have to learn from your mistakes and get better and I know all of my hard work will pay off if I keep at it."
Warren revealed she is thinking of making a major change in her career in the field.
"I am going to just concentrate most likely on only the shot put now as that will be my pet event and maybe even change my technique. I am a glider and maybe going to try to be a spinner ..a lot of persons have told me with that I can be the best, so it is on my mind “ disclosed the national silver medallist.
On Friday, T&T will have no athlete in action, so all eyes will be glued and focused on Cedenio in the final at 3.20 pm (TT time)
He will race from lane six against USA’s Fred Kerley who is in lane five, Grenada’s Kirani James in lane seven and Bahamas' Steven Gardener in lane four.
Also, on Friday, the women’s 4x100m relay preliminaries will take place where T&T's final quartet will be chosen from a determined bunch which include Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Semoy Hackett, Reyare Thomas, Kamaria Durant and Mauricia Prieto, as they seek to progress to the final.