Cape Town - The injury bogey struck Shaun Maswanganyi, but Luxolo Adams and Sinesipho Dambile showed their class to advance in the men's 200m at the world athletics championships on Monday night (early Tuesday SA time).
Maswanganyi and Adams were the favourites among the South Africans to reach the semi-finals, which will take place on Tuesday night at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon (Wednesday 3.50am SA time).
Adams is in a rich vein of form, having set a new personal best of 19.82 seconds a few weeks ago, and he underlined his credentials with an excellent run in heat three.
Up against young American sensation Erriyon Knighton - who ran the world lead of 19.49 this year - Adams kept his cool to finish second in 20.10 and go through to the semi-finals.
The 18-year-old Knighton took the honours in 20.01, while fellow American and defending champion Noah Lyles set the fastest heat time of 19.98.
Maswanganyi - who reached the 100m and 200m semi-finals at the Tokyo Olympics last year - looked in great shape in heat two.
He stormed into the lead as he entered the home straight, and looked to be well on course to finish in the top three and qualify automatically for the next round.
But the 21-year-old University of Houston athlete - who set his 200m personal best of 20.10 at the same venue last year - slowed down in the last 30 metres.
Maswanganyi had to be helped off the track after sustaining what looked like a hamstring injury, which saw him finish fourth in 20.79.
Trinidad and Tobago's Jereem Richards won the heat in 20.35, but Maswanganyi's time was well short of the 'fastest losers' spot, which was grabbed by Jamaica's Yohan Blake in 20.35.
Now Maswanganyi's participation in South Africa's 4x100m relay team will be in doubt too.
There was somewhat of a surprise from the third 200m SA athlete, Dambile, though.
Having already caught everyone unawares by winning the national title in Cape Town in April, the 20-year-old former world junior champion proved that it was no fluke as he made it through to the semi-finals in Oregon.
Dambile set a new personal best of 20.29 to finish second behind 100m champion Fred Kerley of the US, who won the heat in 20.17.
The only other SA athlete running on the day was women's 200m sprinter Shirley Nekhubui, and she finished seventh in her heat in 23.46.
The next South Africans in action will be on Wednesday morning SA time.
The women's 400m hurdles trio of Zeney van der Walt, Wenda Nel and Taylon Bieldt will be on the track from 2.15am, while Adams and Dambile are in the men's 200m semi-finals at 3.50am.
Wayde van Niekerk and Zakithi Nene will compete in the men's 400m semi-finals on Wednesday night (Thursday 4.15am SA time), while Caster Semenya will line up for the women's 5 000m heats on the same day (Thursday 1.25am SA time).
IOL Sport