Mark English and Paul Robinson both missed out on a place in the semi-finals of the 800 metres on the opening morning of the World Championships in Moscow.
In front of a pitifully small attendance at the Luznhiki Stadium, both failed to progress with English just missing out on automatic qualification after finishing fourth in his heat.
The Letterkenny athlete clocked a time of 1 minute, 47.08 seconds while Robinson also bowed out after finishing sixth in his heat in 1:48.61.
English’s time had briefly led to hopes he might make it through as one of the fastest losers but he was edged out after the final heat.
“It’s true that you do need a wee bit of luck on your side,” English said after the heats. “And unfortunately I just missed out today by 0.5 of a second.
“I’ve still loads more years to come, I’m gutted yeah, but there are positives to take from it as well.”
Robinson rued a sluggish start to his heat, saying: “It was tough. I thought it was going to be a bit faster than it was, and I found myself in a bad position. My inexperience at the 800 showed there. You can’t afford to get off as slow as I did.
“That kick down the back straight was nothing like what I’m used to in the 1500, the boys were going for it from then. I was gaining in the last 120m, but it just wasn’t enough.”
Ethiopian Mohammed Aman, the only man to have beaten absent world record holder David Rudisha over 800m in the last three years, underlined his status as favourite to take the two-lap gold as he produced the fastest time of the morning heats, one minute, 44.93 seconds.
The first medals of the championship were decided in the women’s marathon, where Kenyan Edna Kiplagat became the first woman to retain the world marathon title when she defied the humid conditions to win gold. Italian Valeria Straneo produced a brave front-running display until the 40-kilometre mark before giving way to the Kenyan and settled for silver, while Japan’s Kayoko Fukushi took bronze.
There was disappointment for Ireland's Maria McCambridge, who pulled out of the race at roughly the 8km mark.
Jennifer Carey's world championship campaign was also a fleeting one as she was unable to advance from the 400 metres heats.
Running in the same heat as defending champion Amantle Montsho of Botswana, Carey was always up against it and despite a relatively sluggish pace the Dundrum athlete finished fifth in a time of 52.62 seconds.
Britain’s Christine Ohuruogu began her bid for 400m gold, six years on from her one and only world title, in confident fashion, cruising through her heat with room to spare and winning in 50.20, the fastest of the day.
The championships got off to low-key but high-humidity start in front of a just a few hundred fans scattered around the 81,000 Luzhniki Stadium, with star attraction Usain Bolt ready to be unleashed in the evening.
Among those braving the warm sunshine and sweltering air were Bolt’s parents, on board for the first appearance of the world record holder later this evening in the first round of the 100 metres.
The double Olympic champion, out to reclaim the title after being disqualified for a false start in the final two years ago, makes his first appearance at 4.15pm (Irish time) ahead of tomorrow night’s final (5.15pm).
Organisers have claimed to have sold 80 percent of tickets for the event but there were acres of yellow, red and orange seats vacant today, producing a multi-couloured backdrop to the vivid blue track and artifical green grass infield.
American Olympic champion and world record holder Ashton Eaton set the early pace in the decathlon with a 10.32-seconds 100 metres and 7.32 metre long jump for a two-event tally of 2003 points. Germany's Michael Schrader was second on 1944 with another American, Gunnar Nixon, third on 1907 after a personal best long jump of 7.80.
There was a surprise in women's discus as China's Siyu Gu, whose 67.86 metres makes her second in the world this year behind dominant Croatian Sandra Perkovic, had a miserable morning with three fouls and failed to reach Sunday's final.
Ukrainian Natalia Semenova will not forget the event in a hurry either after being cracked in the face by Zaneta Glanc during the Pole's discus-swinging warm-up routine. European bronze medalist Semenova, who had been sitting on a bench minding her own business, received treatment for a deep gash on the bridge of her nose and was able to continue but she managed only one legal throw and failed to qualify.
