Women sprinters provide smooth warm-up act

BERLIN (Reuters) - With the men's 100 meters final the talk of the Olympic Stadium, the women sprinters briefly stepped into the limelight Sunday and all the main contenders safely negotiated the first-round heats.

The night's semi-finals and final 3:35 p.m. EDT (1935 GMT) of the men's event remain the biggest draw of the world championships when Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell will hope to challenge favorite Usain Bolt for gold.

The women's title looks more open with half a dozen serious contenders, though all of them also come from the United States and the Caribbean.

American champion Carmelita Jeter, enjoying an Indian summer of a career for a sprinter at 29, led the way with a smooth-run 11.22 seconds.

Jamaican Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser and compatriots world champion Veronica Campbell-Brown, Beijing silver medalist Kerron Stewart and Aleen Bailey also cruised through in sunny conditions ideal for sprinting.

The first medals of the day were awarded in the women's 20km walk, held in the city center and ending at the Brandenburg Gate, with Olympic and defending world champion Olga Kaniskina totally dominating.

She broke clear after six kilometers and was never troubled to win in 1:28:10. Ireland's Olive Loughnane took a surprise silver, ahead of China's Liu Hong.

Kaniskina's win means Russian women have won the last five 20km world race walk golds and completed a Berlin double after Valeriy Borchin's victory in the men's race Saturday.

Britain's Jessica Ennis remains on course for gold in the heptathlon after the long jump, the fifth of the seven disciplines, despite having her overnight lead of 307 points trimmed to 269.

JEPKOSGEI OUT

Ennis won three of the four events Saturday and managed a personal best in the other, the shot but was only ninth in the long jump.

Olympic champion Nataliya Dobrynska and Germany's Jennifer Oeser both finished ahead of her and are both on 4,795 points to Ennis's 5,064.

"That gold medal keeps creeping into my head but I want to focus on each event," Ennis said ahead of Sunday's night's concluding javelin and 800 meters.

Kenyan Janeth Jepkosgei's defense of her 800m title ended in the first heat when she tripped on the final bend and failed to qualify for the semi-finals.

Jepkosgei was leading and looking comfortable when she was caught by Caster Semenya of South Africa, the fastest in the world this year, who stayed on her feet to win the heat but hurt her ankle in the process and could also be forced to withdraw.

Jepkosgei's compatriot, Olympic champion Pamela Jelimo, had no trouble as she went through safely in 2:03.50.

World and Olympic champion Valerie Vili of New Zealand led the qualifying for Sunday night's women's shot final with a throw of 19.70 meters.

(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)