Beijing: Jamaican sprinters sent a message to their American rivals in the Olympic Games women's 100 meters, running the top three times to win second-round heats on Saturday in the chase to decide the world's fastest woman.
Kerron Stewart, who set a personal best of 10.80 to win the Jamaican Olympic trials, led favourites into Sunday's semi-finals with a 10.98-second run, then hinted that Jamaica might be on the verge of a first women's 100 gold medal.
"I think something special is going to happen," Stewart said. "I just feel it. It's certainly going to take something special to win it."
Jamaica's Sherone Simpson, the 2006 World Cup winner, took her heat, which included US champion Muna Lee, in 11.02, second-best overall, with compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser third on the speed chart by winning her heat in 11.06.
Americans Lauryn Williams, Lee and Torri Edwards - all expected to contend for gold - also advanced to the semi-finals with eight set to move from there to Sunday's final.
"It will be just as competitive as the boys, one of the best 100 meters ever," Williams said.
In all, 16 women advanced into the semi-finals, including the top three in each of five heats.
Lee was second to Simpson in 11.08 with Williams second to Stewart in 11.07 as Jamaicans took head-to-head matchups with their top rivals for gold.
Lee said not everyone has shown their best in advancing this far.
"There's a lot of girls running fast and a lot of girls still holding back," Lee said. "I don't want to give them everything yet."
Lee, the US champion who also qualified in the 200, said she ran more comfortably than at the US trials, where she won in a personal best 10.85.
"I felt really good. If I would have pushed harder it would have been better," Lee said. "I still shut it down."
Williams was happy to overtake Belgium's Kim Gevaert for second at the line after a poor start.
"I don't think I executed my start the way I've been doing in the warmup," Williams said. "I'm excited I can come up and run the Belgian girl down. I was really pleased about that."
Williams, the 2004 Athens runner-up, won the 2005 world title and finished second to Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown in a photo finish at last year's world final. Campbell-Brown failed to qualify in the 100 in Jamaican trials.
Edwards, the 2003 world champion who is running her fastest at age 31, won the slowest heat in 11.31.
"Easy day. I'm happy about that," Edwards said. "It doesn't really matter (who makes the final) as long as I'm in there."
The American ran this year's world best of 10.78 seconds in the US Olympic trials semi-finals, a career-best effort that made her the eighth-fastest woman all time.
Edwards was the reigning world 100 champion in 2004 but missed the Olympics after losing an appeal of a two-year doping suspension for the banned stimulant nikethamide.
She was a member of the 4x100 US relay that took a bronze at the 2000 Sydney Olympics but those medals were stripped because Marion Jones, who admitted taking banned substances at the Sydney Games, was also on that relay.
Those setbacks would make a medal at Beijing all the sweeter.
"I came out to win a gold medal," Edwards said. "That would be the icing on the cake for me."
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