BEIJING, China:

It came out of nowhere.A sparkling new national record from Jamaican quarter-miler Rusheen McDonald during the heats of the men's 400m at the International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships in Beijing.

McDonald, however, seemed to care more about what he described as the poor execution of his coach, Stephen Francis' instructions, than the fact that he had become the first Jamaican in history to run below 44 seconds.

His heat-winning 43.93-second run catapulted him into the medal discussions in Beijing.

The 23-year-old is now the 11th-fastest man in history and only the fifth to dip below 44 seconds this season.

"I never expected it. It's the first round and I didn't expect to run that fast in the first round," said an emotionless McDonald.

"I don't know what to say. I didn't expect such a fast time."

"The first 300m was too poor for me because I did not follow my coach's instructions. if I did, I would have ran much faster here today," he added.

"I didn't use too much energy and I have been training well over the past few months for this," he said.

The magnitude of his performance is not lost on the young man, neither is the need for the country to flex some muscle in the 400m, an event that was once the soul of the nation's track and field.

McDonald, who has shown steady improvement this season, said he considered it his personal responsibility to take Jamaica's quarter-mile programme to the top, starting with a place in Wednesday's final.

"For the past few years, Jamaica has not had any quarter-milers in these finals, and that is a goal for me," he said.

- A.L