EUGENE, Ore. — Allyson Felix still has work to do to earn her trip to Beijing.
If things keep going the way they did Friday, it won’t be hard work.
Felix coasted to a victory in her 200-meter preliminary heat, leaving her three races away from earning the Olympic spot that seems preordained.
She would already be in had she finished in the top three last weekend in the 100, but that didn’t happen, so she must get there in her best event.
She won her heat in 22.68 seconds, wiping the brow below her white headband when it was over, then heading quickly off the track. Quarterfinals and semis are Saturday, and finals are Sunday.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment since I was a child, so it’s good to get it started,” Felix said.
She conceded her fifth-place finish in the 100 was hard to overlook in the long week since the final.
“I thought about it,” she said. “I didn’t set myself up good in the semis, I put myself way out there in lane 8, which was not smart. I felt out of touch with the race. But I felt like I executed as best as I could.”
Joining Felix in the next round will be all the usual suspects: 100 Trials champion Muna Lee, Lauryn Williams, Marshevet Hooker, Carmelita Jeter.
There weren’t any surprises in a competition that included five heats to eliminate only five runners.
In the distance event Friday, Kara Goucher, Jennifer Rhines and Shalane Flanagan qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in the women’s 5,000 meters.
Goucher, a former University of Colorado runner who finished second in the 10,000 earlier at Olympic Trials, finished the 5,000 in 15 minutes, 1.02 seconds to earn the chance to go for the rare double.
Flanagan, who owns the American record in the 5,000 and 10,000, finished third and also will have the chance to go for the double. She beat Goucher in the 10,000.
On the men’s side, Tyson Gay returned to the track for the first time since his wind-aided, 9.68-second win in the 100 last weekend. He eased to a win in the 200.
He practically jogged to the finish, looking around him for anyone who might be closing in. Nobody was.
He finished in 20.43 and there was no scare, the way there was in his first 100 heat, when he pulled up early, misjudging the finish line before finishing strong to save face, and the race.
“It feels good,” Gay said. “I just needed that first run to get rid of the cobwebs. It felt pretty good and relaxing. That’s about the time I wanted to run.”
Wallace Spearmon is in the same spot as Felix, having missed the 100 — his bonus race of sorts — and now concentrating on the 200.
He cruised to the next round in 20.81.
Spearmon hopes to contend with Gay, the defending world champion in the 100 and 200, in the final.
“It was easy,” Spearmon said. “I’m just trying to get through these rounds as easy as possible. Saving it for the final.”
