KEY POINTS:
Nick Willis qualified for the 1500m semifinals at the world championships in Osaka after finishing seventh in his heat yesterday.
The first six in each of the event's three heats advanced automatically to Monday night's semifinals.
Willis, who clocked 3m 40.18s, was the best of the next six fastest who rounded out the 24 semifinalists. The Commonwealth champion started as he had planned, moving from the back of the field with 600m remaining.
He was challenged by eventual winner Mehdi Baala of France down the back straight. Into the final straight, Willis was unable to hold a top six placing.
"The weather was a factor. I didn't think the heat would be as big a factor. Even before the race, people were sweating a bunch," said Willis.
"No one wanted to be aggressive, and you can tell by the times that I was the fastest qualifier in the non top six and I didn't break 3m 40s.
"I ran the exact race I wanted to execute, I just wasn't able to finish it off. And now I think I want to go off and throw up somewhere," he said.
Baala's winning time of 3m 38.65s was the fastest of the three heats.
Fellow Kiwi Gareth Hyett did not make it into the semifinals after finishing 11th in his heat in 3m 45.70s.
Hyett ran at the back of the leading bunch that went through the first lap in 61.17s, the 800m in 2m 04.75s and the 1200m in 3m 01.88s.
Despite running the final 200m in 27.5s, Hyett was unable to make any impression over the final 100m.
* Searing heat, a lightning fast track and a stellar start by Swede Carolina Kluft heralded the opening day of the 11th world championships.
Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell raced through stifling Japanese temperatures to ease towards their much-anticipated 100m showdown.
Heptathlete Kluft recorded personal bests in the hurdles and high jump and Luke Kibet became the first Kenyan man to win the world marathon title in 20 years.
While the track is proving fast, searing heat and sapping humidity produced the slowest men's marathon winner in 11 world championships.
Kibet took gold in 2h 15m 59s. The fastest man in the world this year, Qatar's Hassan Mubarak Shami, held on for silver, with Switzerland's Victor Roethlin taking bronze.
The thermometer tipped 29 degrees Celsius at the 7am start and had climbed to 33 by the finish.
