Athletics: Semis spot sweet justice for Hamblin

British expat and now New Zealand citizen Nikki Hamblin is on a steep learning curve in her first taste of international championship competition.

After her disastrous fall in the heats of the 800m on Sunday Hamblin put on a brave face and took part in the heats of the 1500m at the World Athletic Championships in Berlin.

And the 21-year-old runner was rewarded with a place in the semifinal after finishing eighth in her heat and qualifying as one of the six other fastest times. The first six to finish in each of the three heats automatically qualified for tomorrow's semifinals.

Hamblin recorded a time of 4m 9.60s, just a second slower than her personal best set in the Netherlands in June. Gelete Burka of Ethiopia won Hamblin's heat in 4m 7.75s, the fastest time from the heats.

Hamblin was 23rd overall out of 42 who started.

It was sweet justice for Hamblin as she had originally intended running in only the 800m.

A beaming Hamblin came off the track saying "I can smile now".

"I'm not sure where I finished, I was just happy to be racing.

"After I fell in the 800m I was gutted. The 800m was such an open event this year, when I saw the semifinals, just under two minutes would have got you in the final, which was achievable for me, so I was pretty gutted, but there was nothing I could do about it.

"I talked to my coach [Chris Pilone] and we agreed to come out and run the 1500m, there was nothing to lose."

Hamblin said she had learned a lot about racing at this level in the past few days. "This is all learning for me.

"I might as well make the most of this opportunity where I can, to do that was to get out and run, that wasn't a hard decision. I can sit in the hotel and watch and wonder what if or I can get out there and give it a go.

"This is definitely a step up, you are standing on the start line next to Olympic finalists and Olympic champions and - ooh," Hamblin said.

"When I first got here I felt I didn't belong, but when I sat on the sideline of that 800m I was like, I'm here, I'm going to give it everything that I've got and why shouldn't I be part of it?

"It was more so annoying in the 800m, I felt like I belonged, it's going to be my day and then - bang," she said.

"I'm not upset now, I was at the time. I've learned so much from it and I'm just really happy to be here, I'm excited that I got here, and I came out and gave it my best shot, that's all I could have done."

Hamblin said she now had the appetite for the big-time competition.

On the fall in the 800m Hamblin said that it was her fault.

"I think I ran and clipped the runner in front of me and I hit the ground.

"Before that I was being pushed quite a bit, so it wasn't the guy who was pushing me's fault, but that's what was leading up to me falling over."

Hamblin said she learned very quickly to position herself better in a race.

"I was at the back in the 1500m on the pole line, that's what Chris [Pilone] told me to do."

Not since Toni Hodgkinson made the final of the 800m at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games has New Zealand had a middle-distance woman runner excel in a global international competition.

Hamblin will have her eye on Hodgkinson's New Zealand national record of 4m 6.23s, set in Melbourne in 2000, as she proceeds to the semifinal.