As it turned out, only 31 started, so the first round eliminated four. I hate when organizers can't summon the courage or will to amend a schedule to eliminate a round when there's almost no need for it. How many athletes would object to sharing a lane for 100m in order to avoid running a round?
It was mostly useless, but I think it helps to run three rounds in the selction meet when they're choosing a team that will have to run three rounds at the championship.
If you’ve got the legs to run three rounds, absolutely. And the pace of those “almost everyone qualifies” heats was surprisingly fast, but they could easily have all gone 2:10 …
Or 2:13, like the Kenyan “championships” last month