Wind assists Hooker to eye-popping 100 meters

EUGENE, Oregon (Reuters) - Former collegiate champion Marshevet Hooker ran an eye-popping but wind-assisted 10.76 seconds to lead the women's 100 meters qualifying on the opening day of the American Olympic trials on Friday.

No woman has run faster under any conditions since disgraced American sprinter Marion Jones clocked 10.68 seconds in 2000.

Only world record holder Florence-Griffith Joyner, Jones, Christine Arron and Merlene Ottey have ever run the distance quicker.

The wind on the quarter-final race was 3.4 meters per second, well above the accepted 2.0 mps.

"I stuttered a little bit (at the start) but I just kept running," said the 23-year-old Hooker, who trains with the men's world 100 meters champion Tyson Gay's co-coach, Jon Drummond.

"Only God knows how fast I can run," said Hooker, who has a legal best of 10.94 seconds this year.

"It was fast, very fast. I hope she is tired," said former world champion Torri Edwards, who had the second-best time of the quarter-finals, a wind-assisted 10.85 seconds.

Another former world champion, Olympic silver medalist Lauryn Williams, and current women's 200 meters world champion Allyson Felix also advanced to Saturday's semi-finals.

Chryste Gaines, who served a two-year suspension as a part of the BALCO doping scandal, was among those eliminated.

American record holder Shalane Flanagan won the day's only final, claiming the women's 10,000 meters title in a time of 31 minutes 34.81 seconds.

'BIG RELIEF'

"It is a big relief," said Flanagan. "I am extremely excited. I wanted to come in and prove to myself that I could run fast, while also running championship style tactical races."

The 26-year-old also will attempt to make the United States' team in the 5,000 meters.

World bronze medalist Kara Goucher was second in 31:37.72 with Amy Begley third in 31:43.60. All have met the Olympic standard for August's Beijing Games.

Meanwhile, America's top three shot putters, Adam Nelson, Reese Hoffa and Christian Cantwell, all advanced to Sunday's final.

Men's pole vault world champion Brad Walker dominated preliminaries in his event, clearing 5.60 meters.

World 1,500 and 5,000 meters champion Bernard Lagat eased through to Monday's 5,000 meters final, clocking 13:54.93 in the semi-finals.

The former Kenyan is running both the 1,500 and 5,000 meters in the hope of making his first Olympic team in a U.S. vest.

The American trials opened on a moving note with members of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team walking on the Hayward Field track to loud applause.

The U.S. boycotted the 1980 Moscow Games because of Russia's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan, denying future world record holders Edwin Moses and Renaldo Nehemiah and others an opportunity to compete.

(Editing by Alastair Himmer)

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