UPDATED 7 a.m. Saturday

WITH NOVA SCOTIA AT HER BACK, Bridgewater’s Jenna Martin advanced to the semifinals of the women’s 400 metres on Friday.

The two-time Canadian women’s champion in the 400 ran a 51.98 in a steady rain to place third in her heat as the athletics portion of the 2012 London Olympics got underway at a filled and frenetic Olympic stadium.

The top three finishers in each heat plus the next best three times make up the 24 qualifiers for today’s semifinals.

She reeled in the third-place runner over the last 100 metres to seal the deal.

“Everyone can race 300 metres, but pretty much at this level it comes down to the finish,” said a drenched Martin in the post-race mix zone.

“I was in pretty good position and I knew coming home I had it. So I just kept pushing and gave everything I had.”

DeeDee Trotter of the U.S. (50.87) and Rosemarie Whyte of Jamaica (50.90) were the only two in the heat to finish ahead of her. Martin placed just ahead of Nigeria’s Omolara Omottosho (52.11).

Martin thrived on the generous crowd.

“It’s amazing, I love this,” she said. “I wish I had it at every meet.”

She will need to be in the top eight to take a place in the medal race on Sunday.

Martin’s been keeping herself in a bubble, but is aware of the wild support back home.

“I’m getting comments 24-7, everyone is so supportive. I know everyone was getting together at the town hall (in Bridgewater) and the fire station in Caledonia. I feel so blessed to have so many people in my corner.”

The University of Kentucky graduate ran a personal best — 51.53 — at the Canadian trials in Calgary in June to qualify for London.

“I’ll do what I can to recover,” Martin said, anxious to get out of the damp chill.

“I’ll get my mind right and start fresh and go out there and run my heart out.”

Current world champion Amantle Montsho of Botswana and defending Olympic gold medallist Christine Ohuruogu were among the others to move on.

Martin will compete in the first of three semifinals today at 4:05p.m. Nova Scotia time.

Joining her in her heat will be American Sanya Richards-Ross, considered the favourite for gold, and Ohuruogu of Great Britain. Rosemarie Whyte of Jamaica, who crossed ahead of Martin in the preliminaries on Friday, is also in the semifinal.

Runners must place in the top two in the semi or have the next best two times to advance to Sunday’s final.

Martin is one of three Nova Scotians in the athletics competition.

Halifax’s Geoff Harris will run in the 800-metre preliminaries on Monday while Antigonish’s Eric Gillis is entered in the marathon on the final day of the Games next Sunday.

(mmosher@herald.ca)

Our reporter Monty Mosher was at Martin's qualifying race in London, and reporter Ian Fairclough was in Bridgewater as Martin's hometown fans watched. Both tweeted live as the event unfolded: