Bolt,Blake and Weir move to the 200m semifinals without breaking a sweat

“I was taking it as easy as possible. It’s my first (200) run. I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” said Bolt, who runs in the semi-finals Wednesday as he tries to become the only man with two Olympic titles in the 200.

Also easing into the next round was Bolt’s training partner, Yohan Blake, who won his heat in 20.38. While Bolt holds the world record of 19.19, it’s Blake with the second-fastest time — 19.26 — that cannot be ignored.

“I’m feeling good,” Blake said. “I’ve trained for this. That’s why they call me ‘The Beast.“’

The third Jamaican, Warren Weir, finished his race in 20.29, 0.01 slower than the morning’s fastest time, posted by Ecuador’s Alex Quinonez.

Jared Connaughton (20.72) of New Haven, P.E.I., and Toronto’s Aaron Brown (20.55) both advanced.

Also moving on was a pair of runners who finished second and third to Bolt at the last Olympics but didn’t get medals to show for it. Churandy Martina of the Netherlands and Wallace Spearmon of the United States both were disqualified for running out of their lanes in Beijing.

Martina won Heat 7 in 20.58 seconds, while Spearmon had to work to finish second behind Quinonez in Heat 6 in 20.47, then complained that he had trouble running in Lane 2.

“It’s too tight. Definitely too tight,” Spearmon said. “I didn’t like it. I don’t want to go back there again.”

Spearmon, like everyone else, has been keeping a close watch on Bolt.

“He’s in shape,” Spearmon said. “He’s healthy again.”

That was no sure thing after Bolt’s back-to-back losses to Blake at Jamaica’s Olympic trials five weeks ago — setbacks in the 100 and 200 that injected a large dose of uncertainty into the leadup to these Olympics.

Bolt set the track world back on its axis Sunday night with his 9.63-second run for the gold, the second-fastest 100 in history.

Blake, however, isn’t conceding the next big race.

“The track is fast. Usain is really fast. But I’m in great shape,” Blake said. “Anything is possible.”