Canada's Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, left, and Perdita Felicien race during the women's 100-metre hurdles during the Festival of Excellence in Toronto on Thursday, June 11, 2009. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

If there is one track and field event in which Canadians have been consistently prominent at the international level it's the women's 100-metre hurdles.

All three of Canada's veterans won their first round heats on day two of the Canadian Track and Field Championships in Toronto Friday, easily qualifying for Saturday's final.

Olympic bronze medalist Priscilla Lopes-Schliep was first up, winning her race in a time of 13.15 seconds running into a strong headwind measuring 2.6 metres per second. Phylicia George of Project Athletics was a distant second in 14.01 seconds to snatch the other automatic qualifying place.

"It feels good," Lopes-Schliep said afterward. "It was a pretty strong headwind. I am hoping tomorrow there will be a positive wind [at the final]. I am looking forward to seeing what's in store tomorrow. Today is all about good technique, good form. I had a few floater hurdles, when I am in the air longer and don't have that snap. I will fix that for tomorrow."

Not 'peer versus peer,' says Felicien

The 2003 IAAF World Champion, Perdita Felicien, has lost three times this season to Lopes-Schliep: in Doha, where the latter recorded the world leading time of 12.52 seconds, at the Pre Classic in Eugene, Ore., and more recently at the Toronto Festival of Excellence. But Friday, Felicien looked very sharp, winning the second heat in a time of 12.89 seconds into a headwind of -2.2 m/s.

"We just wanted to come out and advance [to the final]," Felicien said. "It is important to make the world championship team. Obviously, the road to Berlin goes through Toronto. I am looking to win, obviously, but I am not looking at it as peer versus peer."

Felicien, who missed the 2008 Beijing Olympics because of an injury, admitted feeling nervous coming into these Canadian championships.

"Nerves means this is important to me, so definitely, I have nerves," she said. "But I am a veteran, and I have been here a lot of times and keep telling myself 'sound mind; skilled body.' This is like a Golden League meet. It's a big calibre race. I can use this like an Oslo or Zurich, and rarely do I have that advantage."

Two years ago, Felicien collected the IAAF World Championships silver medal in Osaka while Angela Whyte finished eighth in the final. The Edmonton native has suffered her share of injuries and after winning the third heat in 13.27 (wind -3.1m/s), has designs on clocking under 13 seconds in Saturday's final.

"I am healthier," she said. "Any time things continue to get more positive, that is all I can ask for. I want to be able to complete the race tomorrow and reinforce the good things that have been coming together again."

Bertocchi pulls out of decathlon

After starting the second day of the decathlon with a lead of 146 points, the University of Toronto Track Club's Massimo Bertocchi came out with a vengeance in the 110-metre hurdles, winning his heat in a time of 14.65 seconds into a headwind measuring -2.9 m/s.

His target of 8,000 points —- the 2009 IAAF World Championship qualifying standard — seemed well within reach. But nerves got the better of him on the next event, the discus throw.

Two of his three attempts were fouls, and on the third, he hit the uprights of the discus cage, and the discus landed a paltry 5.65 metres from the circle. That dropped him to third place behind Vancouver's Reid Gustavson and Marcus Cunningham of the Capital City Track Club.

Bertocchi rebounded in the pole vault, recording 4.70 m worth 819 points against Gustavson's best of 4.10 m. But though he had recaptured the lead, his back injury flared up, and he and coach Andy Higgins decided to bow out of the competition with two events remaining.

"It's great to win, but I would rather compete healthy and be ready for the next meet and be able to do all the events 100 per cent rather than just 50 per cent," he explained. "I was having trouble in the pole vault warm-up with the headwind, and my back was starting to act up. I basically stopped warming up and just waited for 4.70 m. Then at 5.00 m, I came right down on the bar and tweaked my back again.

"There may be still potential for world's depending on what Athletics Canada says. And then there are two decathlons at the end of August: Talence [France] or the Francophone Games. I am going to see if AC will give me a chance to go to Berlin."

Gustavson took the gold medal with a combined score of 7,146 points while Cunningham earned silver with 6,896 points.

Christopher wins 400 m heat

"It feels really nice," said Gustavson. "It's a huge surprise, but that happens in the decathlon. Massimo has bigger fish to fry, but it was a cool experience."

Tyler Christopher, the 2008 IAAF world indoor 400 m champion, won his heat in the 400 m but didn't look particularly strong. His time was 47.64 seconds.

The man he left Chilliwack, B.C., to train with, Kevin Tyler, left their Edmonton base this year to take a position with U.K. Athletics. Christopher admits training without Tyler and with only his other coach, Derek Evely, has taken some getting used to.

"I did what I needed to qualify," Christopher said, laughing. "It's different. it's more strength-based. It's taking a bit to get used to. Derek is a great coach, I have been working with him for the last few years. There hasn't been much of a difference except Kevin is gone.

"This is all strength based. I just need to learn how to race and when to turn it on for the home straight. I came from a really strong core with Ron Thompson, and with Kevin we worked mainly on technique and speed, and so we got away from that. As the years went on, I kind of lost my strength base. A more speed-based runner is kind of rare in the 400 m.

"The worlds are still a month away. I just need a few races against a good field and really figure out where to push it."

The fastest qualifier was Daniel Harper, who won the second heat in 47.27.

Canada's premier middle distance runner, Gary Reed, easily won his first round 800 m heat in 1:50.98 and is intent on making the medal podium at the world championships in Berlin. He was second at the 2007 world championships in Osaka.

"It felt great," said Reed, who was also fourth at the Beijing Olympics. "I just wanted to get through the heats and be ready for the final tomorrow. Fitness is good, I definitely need some European races to bring me up a level and that's coming up next week. I will try to peak for world's."