Bolt blocks out the pain to advance in 200m

MOSCOW. Usain Bolt stretched, stifled a yawn and, almost apologetically, extracted his giant frame from his blocks before strolling through his heat as he began his bid for a third successive world 200 meters title on Friday.Bolt, never a fan of morning action and slightly tentative after dropping a starting block on his foot earlier in the week, was in the last of seven first round heats and duly won it in 20.66 seconds without ever getting out of second gear.The sport’s biggest name did the minimum required to advance to the semi-finals later in the day, with the final scheduled for 1605 GMT (6:05 CAT) on Saturday.“I’m not really a morning person so I’m just happy to get through,” Bolt said after advancing as the 21st-fastest qualifier. “My foot is feeling better. It was sore but we’ve been working on it for four days.”Bolt, who set the current world record of 19.19 in Berlin four years ago, is the fastest in the field this season with 19.73 in Paris six weeks ago.American Tyson Gay would probably have been his main challenger, having clocked 19.74, but the 2007 champion misses the championships after a positive drugs test.Bolt’s Jamaican team mate Warren Weir, bronze medalist in last year’s Olympics and the next-fastest in the field, also progressed comfortably, as did Nickel Ashmeade, fresh from his fifth place in the 100 meters final, and Jason Livermore as Jamaica bid to match their London Olympics podium sweep.Yohan Blake, the silver medalist in London, is absent through injury while France’s Christophe Lemaitre, world bronze medalist in 2011, also withdrew after suffering an injury racing the 100m earlier in the week.