Title favourites Sally Pearson of Australia, Kenyan David Rudisha and New Zealander Valerie Adams all sailed through their respective Olympic qualifying heats on Monday. The trio nailed world golds in Daegu, South Korea, last year and again showed their class in front of another packed morning session at the Olympic Stadium in east London. Pearson clocked the leading time in the 100m hurdles, timing 12.57sec to finish ahead of American duo Lolo Jones and Kellie Wells, and Turkey’s two-time defending European champion Nevin Yanit. “I was quite nervous and I’m glad it’s over,” said Pearson. “I can go back and fix my body for tomorrow now. “There’s no more work to do. This is it. Tomorrow is another day at the office and I’ll see what I can do.” Also making the cut was reigning Olympic champion Dawn Harper, but one to miss out was 2009 world champion Brigitte Foster-Hylton, the 37-year-old Jamaican clipping a hurdle to limp home well off the pace in 13.98. To the crowd’s dismay, there was no Jessica Ennis, the recently-crowned heptathlon gold medallist having opted out of the individual hurdles despite running a blistering 12.54sec en route to winning the mutli-discipline event.
