Matt Denny powers into final discus

Big Matt Denny looked every inch an Olympic medalist-in-waiting as he powered into the men’s final discus in Paris with a minimum of fuss.

Denny’s second throw of 66.83m on Monday morning was well above the automatic qualifying standard, even though the flight was far from perfect.

The 28-year-old Queenslander has been inching ever closer to a first global medal in recent years, finishing fourth at the Tokyo Olympics and sixth, sixth and fourth at the most recent three world championships.

“I’m in really good shape,” he said.

“It wasn’t the cleanest throw but qualifying is a bit of a different beast for everyone right now.

“There are a lot more expectations in that part of the process than there is in the end.

“Three throws and it could be all over so there are a lot of things that come into play there.

“Good to get it done and do it quickly and quite easily.”

Olympic debutant Alanah Yukich squeezed into the 400m hurdles semi-finals by one thousandth of a second after tying for second spot in her repechage race in a personal best of 55.11.

Fellow Australian Sarah Carli (55.12) was eliminated, despite clocking a time just one hundredth of a second slower than Yukich.