(From left) Women’s triple-jump medallists Yargelis Savigne of Cuba (silver), Trecia Smith of Jamaica (gold) and Russian Anna Pyatykh (bronze) at the awards ceremony in Helsinki on Monday. (Reuters)

Helsinki: Frenchwoman Christine Arron made light of wet and blustery conditions to breeze into the women’s 100 m final at the world championships Monday.

The 31-year-old Guadeloupe-born sprinter, who has not won a major individual title since clinching gold at the 1998 European championships, set the fastest time in the semi-finals.

Arron clocked 10.96, the only sub-11 second time in the competition so far, to win the first semis, ahead of Jamaican Veronica Campbell.

American Lauryn Williams, the Olympic silver medallist, eased into the final by winning her heat in 11.03. Bahamian Chandra Sturrup, the fastest woman in the world this year, chased her home, followed by Olympic champion Yuliya Nesterenko.

Me’Lisa Barber and Muna Lee completed a trio of Americans in the final later in the day. American world champion Torri Edwards is not competing after being banned for two years following a positive test for the stimulant nikethamide last April. She was awarded the gold after her compatriot Kelli White was also banned for doping.

Also later in the day, Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele defends his world 10,000 m title in what is expected to be the first step towards the double track title that has twice eluded him.

Bekele has been selected to run both the 5,000 and 10,000 at the 10th world championships although there has been speculation that he will run the longer event only. “He prefers not to double, but I don’t know what will happen,” said his manager Jos Hermens.

Ethiopian team leader Dube Jilo said a final decision would be made before Thursday’s 5,000 heats. “The final determination will be made then,” he said. “But we expect that he will run.”

The Ethiopian athletics federation selected Tirunesh Dibaba, who delivered a resounding victory in the women’s 10,000 Saturday, and Bekele, who holds the world record for both distances, to attempt the double.

“It was decided quite a while ago, since I’ve done it before,” Bekele said over telephone from Addis Ababa before arriving in Helsinki at the weekend.

Bekele swept the long and short course titles at the world cross country championships for the fourth successive time this year despite a period of mourning following the sudden death of his fiancee Alem Techale.

He also took the 10,000 m golds at the 2003 world championships and last year’s Athens Olympics while winning bronze and silver, respectively, in the 5,000.

Bekele finished behind Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge and Morocco’s Hicham el Guerrouj in the 2003 world championships, and behind El Guerrouj at the Olympics. The Moroccan will not be competing in Helsinki.

And Olympic, and now world champion Justin Gatlin sounded a warning to any 200 m runners who might be thinking his dominant victory in the 100 has drained him mentally and physically.

“I’m really excited about the 200,” Gatlin said in an interview. “I’m feeling great. I think I will go out there and run a good time too.

The American clocked 9.88 seconds for the most one-sided 100 m win in the 10 editions of the world championships. Now he wants to become the first sprinter since Maurice Greene in 1999 to win the 100 and 200 double plus the 4x100 m relay.

“It’s hard,” Gatlin said of the quick transition from the 100 to the 200. He starts 200 m preliminaries on Tuesday and may not have a day off until after the relay final on Saturday. (Reuters)