For a man who hasn’t competed all season, reigning champion Rashid Ramzi looked in ominously good form when qualifying from this morning’s heats of the men’s 1,500m.

Ramzi’s been suffering from a foot injury that’s prevented him competing so far this year, not that it showed as he strode through his heat in a steamy Nagai Stadium, clocking 3min 38.72sec to finish second behind France’s Mehdi Baala.

Ramzi, who won the first men's middle distance double at a World Championships in Helsinki two years ago, preserved his energy until the final 250m, when he cruised to the shoulder of Baala, held his form down the home straight and eased into Monday evening’s semi-finals. Baala edged him at the line to clock 3:38.65, the quickest of the round.

But Ramzi won’t have an easy defence of his title as the United States' great hope, Alan Webb, also made easy progress. The world’s fastest man this year at both 1,500m and the mile, Webb ran a controled race in the first of the three heats to finish second in 3:40.73.

With six to qualify from each heat automatically, the 24-year-old ensured his place in the semi-finals behind Kenya’s young star, Asbel Kiprop. Webb shadowed the early race leader, Mounir Yemmouni of France, until 250m to go then cruised into the lead with a thick pack behind him.

Kiprop, the 18-year-old African Games champion, came from well down the field to sneak victory in 3:40.65. On this evidence, he will also be a major medal threat come Wednesday evening’s final.

Webb’s teammate, Bernard Lagat, a two-time Olymic medallist when racing for Kenya, also qualified easily. Running in the third heat, Lagat adopted Ramzi’s tactics of staying off the pace until the closing stages. He was ninth with 200m to go but saved plenty of energy to come through the field and cross the line in third place behind Spain’s Arturo Casado (3:41.33) and Ethiopia’s Mekonnen Gebremehdin (3:41.43). Lagat clocked 3:41.68.

Britain’s Andrew Baddeley, who beat Lagat in Sheffield earlier this summer, had a tougher time. He finished fifth in heat two in 3:39.60 behind Kenya’s Shadrack Kibet Korir, fifth best in the world this year.

Notable names to miss out included Ukraine’s 2006 World Indoor Champion Ivan Hesko, who finished eighth in heat one in 3:42.08, while Kenya’s Daniel Kipchirchir Komen struggled through as a fastest qualifier.

Osaka 2007 News Team/mkb