World and Olympic champion Maurice Greene of the United States failed in his attempt to become the first athlete to win four successive 100 metres sprint titles at the World Athletics Championships when he failed to qualify for the final at the Stade de France in Paris on Monday.

In the second semifinal, Greene finished a miserable eighth in a poor time of 10.37seconds.

Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago, another top-flight sprinter, was also knocked out when he finished fifth in the same heat in 10.22 seconds.

Dwain Chambers of Great Britain finished with the best time of 10.06s to comfortably win the second semifinal, followed by Darrel Brown of Trinidad and Tobago in 10.11s.

Darren Campbell of Great Britain and Aliu Deji of Nigeria were the other two qualifiers from this heat.

Earlier, Bernard Williams of the United States became the first athlete to qualify for the final when he breasted the tape in 10.11s in the first semifinal, well below the world record of 9.78 seconds of American Tim Montgomery, who came second in 10.14s.

Uchenna Emedolu of Nigeria and Commonwealth champion Kim Collins of St Kitts and Nevis were the other two athletes to qualify from this heat, in 10.15s and 10.16s, respectively.

Following is the lineup for the men's 100m final later on Monday evening, with their semifinal timings: