The British sprinter, banned for two years in 2003 after testing positive for anabolic steroids, recorded the fastest time of the first round with 6.59sec, nine-hundredths slower than his best time of the year so far.

But it was the imperious smoothness of his run in beating the second-placed man, Ogho-Oghene Egwero of Nigeria by 0.14 secs – a huge margin in a short sprint – that will have set alarm bells ringing among his rivals.

A relaxed Chambers could scarcely stop smiling after the event, saying: "Now I have got the heats out of the way, I know where I’m at, I know where I stand.

"I have come into this year with a more relaxed attitude.

"I just want to get back to running.

"That’s what I enjoy most, that’s what I want to be known as: an athlete that runs and runs really fast, so that’s what I’m concentrating on."

Chambers, who won the silver medal at the last World Indoor Championships in Valencia two years ago, is the fastest sprinter in the field in Doha after his closest rival, Ivory Williams of the United States, was banned for three months following a positive test for marijuana.

The sprinter revealed on the eve of the Championships that he had ended his relationship with Victor Conte, the controversial founder and owner of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (Balco).

Conte told insidethegames this week that he hoped Chambers won a gold medal in Doha, saying he considered him "to be like a son".

Meanwhile, Jenny Meadows, another leading British medal hope, also qualified impressively in the women’s 800m, winning her heat in 2min 00.39sec.

The first round of the men’s 60m hurdles suggested, however, that Sunday’s final might not be quite the race that some are anticipating.

While all three leading contenders - Xiang Liu of China, Dayron Robles of Cuba and Terrence Trammell of the US - made it through to the semi-finals, Liu, the defending champion, managed only third in his heat in 7.79, looking a shadow of the athlete who won Olympic gold in emphatic style in Athens in 2004.

It appeared from the race as if Liu was still slightly carrying the right leg that precipitated his dramatic withdrawal, to national consternation, from his home Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008.

Afterwards, he said through a translator that his tendon was sore and lacked power.

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