Athens - Olympic Games 100 metres champion Justin Gatlin's bid to become the first man to win the sprint double since Carl Lewis in 1984 is under threat from stablemate Shawn Crawford.
There will be a new name on the 200 metres winner's medal after Greece's surprise victor from the 2000 Games, Kostadinos Kenteris, pulled out after being engulfed in the storm of his infamous missed drugs test.
Crawford's two team-mates Gatlin and Bernard Williams were also winners of their quarter-finals on Tuesday while Portugal's silver medallist in the 100m, Francis Obikwelu, looked serene in winnning his.
Crawford upped the ante following a lowkey outing in the first round by timing a relaxed 19.95 seconds which was the third fastest time this year.
"I am trying to be conservative," said Crawford, who was fourth in the 100m behind Gatlin.
"Usually I am trying to prove I am a Superman, but today I was trying to play these guys' game," added Crawford, who has four of the top five times this season.
Crawford may have been impressive but so too was 36-year-old Frankie Fredericks, as he finished a comfortable-looking second behind the American.
However the quadruple Olympic silver medallist played down his chances of even making the final.
"It was my best time of the season (20.20sec) but someone else ran 19.95," said the Namibian who was the 1993 world champion.
"So it will not be enough for the semis, the semi is my final. I'll see what happens."
The 22-year-old Gatlin was even more conservative, content to coast in ahead of young Jamaican hope Asafa Powell in a time of 20.03sec.
"I just wrapped my medal up and put it in my suitcase after the medals ceremony," said the 22-year-old.
"I wanted to refocus on the 200m."
However Gatlin said that he had been feeling the physical effects of his triumph.
"I feel good but I have some fatigue in my legs," said Gatlin, whose coach Trevor Graham revealed on Sunday he had sent the infamous syringe filled with designer steroid THG to anti-doping agency USADA, which has sparked the doping scandal in US track and field.
"I have been having ice baths, eating the right foods and getting some rest."
