special to Irish Runner.com by David Mervyn

26-year-old Peter Coghlan qualified for the semifinals of the 110m hurdles yesterday evening in Edmonton with a time of 13.57 (+1.0), marginally slower than his season's best of 13.53. Having bludgeoned into barrier six, the Dubliner came through well, showing a great deal of fighting spirit to finish in fourth in the fastest of six heats, behind Austrian Lichtenegger in third.

With attentions turning to tonight's semi-final, Doyle remains upbeat about his charge's chances. 'While Peter has a tough lane draw, I feel really good about his chances in this semi-final. It is unlikely that he will beat either Johnson or Garcia, but you can never rule it out. Garcia is on top of his game but Johnson appears a bit questionable with his 13.59 in the heats. Regardless of that, Peter still has a definite shot at finishing 3rd in his race, which would most likely earn him one of the time qualification spots, and once you make the final, anything can happen!"

Coghlan will be in lane 1 in the first semi-final that includes the last 2 Olympic Champions, Allen Johnson of the USA and Anier Garcia of Cuba. The top 2 finishers from each of the 3 semi-finals advance automatically to the final, with the 2 fastest losers joining them in the final. The semifinal action begins at 0355hrs Irish time.