Chambers grabbed fifth place

But there was disappointment for Britain's Iwan Thomas and Mark Richardson who both failed to qualify for the 400m final.

In the men's 400m, favourite Mike Mcdonald from Jamaica pulled up with a hamstring, as Ingo Schultz qualified with Gregory Haughton and Avard Moncur.

In the women's 100m, Olympic champion Marion Jones and Ekaterini Thanou both cruised into the semi-finals.

Jones dazzled with a time of 10.97secs and Zhann Pintusevich-Block won her heat in 11.16secs - Britain's Abiodun Oyepitan finished seventh (11.61s).

Thanou looks the most likely to challenge Jones for a medal after running 10.97secs - Britain's Marcia Richardson was eighth.

Sotomayor in relaxed mood after qualifying

Romania's Gabriela Szabo ran the fastest time of 4mins 07.40secs in the 1500m semi-finals with Russia's Natalya Gorelova close behind.

And in the men's 800m semi-finals, Andre Bucher was the quickest in 1:44.47mins, followed closely by Nigeria's William Yiampoy.

In the shot put, Korolchik finished ahead of Germany's Nadine Kleinert-Schmitt and Ukrainian Vita Pavlysh.

Scottish record holder Sinead Dudgeon battled through a tough heat to reach the semi-finals of the 400m hurdles but is the only Briton left after Keri Maddox and Natasha Danvers both bowed out.

Donna Fraser qualified as a fastest loser in the 400m but Catherine Murphy was just edged out.

Germany's Grit Breuer was the quickest qualifier with a time of 50.71secs.

In the high jump, Britain's Ben Challenger's 2.20m was not enough, as World record holder Cuba's Javier Sotomayor was one of 13 to progress to the final.

Maurice Greene blasted his way to his third World Championship crown with the fastest time in the world this year in Edmonton.

The Olympic champion overcame three false starts from his competitors and then battled hard to edge ahead of Tim Montgomery (9.85secs) in a time of 9.82secs.

Greene's knee was troubling him on the line as America seized the first three places, with Bernard Williams winning bronze in 9.94secs.

Britain's Dwain Chambers claimed fifth in 9.99secs, while Christian Malcolm grabbed a personal best in 10.11secs in seventh position.