Men’s 800m Final
It was a fantastic 800 final that the Jamaican crowd witnessed tonight. Six athletes crossed the line within the same second for what was the most thrilling finish of the Championships.
At the tape, Kenya’s pre event favourite Alex Kipchirchir had a mere four hundredths of a second advance on Qatar’s Salem Amer Al-Badri who won the World Junior title last year in Debrecen.
Kipchirchir clocked 1:46.59 to 1:46.63 – a new national record - for Al-Badri. Luxembourg’s David Fiegen held on for bronze, the first ever medal for Luxembourg in the history of these Championships.
It was Spain’s Jose Manuel Cortes who took the lead when the runners entered the back straight. Not for long as Kipchirchir went in front. Suddenly, and after just 200m, Sudan’s Ismail Ahmed Ismail dramatically accelerated the pace and led the pack to the bell in 50.95.
At this stage, Kipchirchir was second to last and Fiegen was relegated to sixth. Ismail followed by Cortes and Al-Badri were in front and in that order when with 200m to go Kipchirchir accelerated the pace. With 50 metres to go the five athletes and the second Qatari of the race Adam Abdu Adam Ali were even and desperately fighting for the honours. The medalists were decided with one metre to go, Kipchirchir’s kick leaving Al-Badri and Fiegen behind.
