All the three US favorites for the men's shot put in the Beijing Olympics qualified themselves to the finals for the first gold in athletics on Friday evening.

Adam Nelson, silver medalist in the Athens Olympics, Christian Cantwell and Reese Hoffa put the shot beyond the qualifying line of 20.40 meters. Poland's Tomasz Majewski created his personal best of 21.04 meters, which was the best performance in the qualifications.

All the Americans obviously reserved their strength for the finals.

Nelson said, "It's too early in the morning for me. As long as it (the throw) is over the automatic qualification, it's OK."

On his injury, Nelson said, "I'm feeling OK. If I breathe or turn the wrong way, it bothers me."

"I'm probably going to go home and take a nap, so I'll be ready to come back out later."

Cantwell said, "My throw is always better in the evening, so I'm super excited because I know it will only get better."

Hoffa said, "I just used muscle and I want to focus some more on my technique."

The three Americans occupied three slots of the top four season's bests.

Cantwell said, "Tonight is shaping up to be big for USA shot put."

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2008)