Maurice Greene eased through his 200 metres preliminary and world indoor champion Tyree Washington ran the fastest 400 in two years, at a windswept U.S. championships on Saturday.

Greene clocked 21.10 seconds into a strong headwind of 5.3 metres per second (mps) to finish second in his race and 10th out of the 16 qualifiers for Sunday's semi-finals. But he expressed no concern.

"I only know one thing," he told reporters. "I'm going to win."

The race was Greene's first at the four-day meeting, which serves as the U.S. trials for the world championships in Paris in August. He received a bye in the 100 metres as the world champion and opted to run only the 200 here.

"I felt the wind and decided not to push it," Greene said.

PERFECT RACE

Washington pushed hard out of the curve to win the 400 metres in 44.33 seconds and become the world championship favourite.

"He ran the perfect race," said his coach, 1991 world champion Antonio Pettigrew. "I told him I didn't see he did anything wrong."

This year represents a comeback for Washington, who took nearly 18 months off in 2001-02 because of injuries and the stress of his sister's murder trial and conviction.

Washington's sister and her boyfriend were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after being convicted of suffocating one of her children.

Calvin Harrison (44.62 seconds) and Jerome Young (44.79) joined Washington in the world championship team.

The top three finishers in each final will travel to Paris provided they have met the qualifying standards.

FELIX LEADS

Teenager Allyson Felix appeared on course to do just that in the women's 200 metres. The 17-year-old from Los Angeles clocked 23.19 seconds into a 4.8 mps headwind to lead Saturday's qualifying.

Two other world indoor champions joined Washington in winning their event.

World indoor 1,500 metres record holder Regina Jacobs ran the fastest outdoor time of the year (4:01.63) and Allen Johnson, the 1996 Olympic champion, won the men's 110 metres hurdles in 13.37 seconds after a photo finish with training partner Terrence Trammell.

World record holder Stacy Dragila triumphed in the women's pole vault at 4.50 metres, well adrift of her world record of 4.81.

The ageless Gail Devers, 36, already in the American team in the 100 metres, led qualifying in the women's 100 metres hurdles after clocking 13.00 seconds into a strong headwind.