With yet another comfortable win, Wilson Kipketer’s steady march towards elusive Olympic glory continued in the semi-finals of the men’s 800 metres.
Running a confident and relaxed race, the World record holder and three-time World champion ran to a 1:44.63 victory in the second semi-final, nearly a second ahead of surprisingly strong Ismail Ahmed Ismail (1:45.45) of Sudan to advance easily into Saturday evening’s final. As he did in the first round, Brazilian Osmar dos Santos jumped to the early lead, and paced the field though the first half in 50.83, the quickest opening lap of the night. He was closely shadowed by Kipketer, with U.S. champion Jonathan Johnson just a step behind. But with the pack tightening, the young American found himself in trouble, and quickly fell off the pace. The 19-year-old Ismail, last year’s Arab champion, moved up as he headed up the back stretch and firmly held his ground to the finish, well ahead of Kenyan Joseph Mutua (1:45.54) and Italy’s Andrea Longo (1:45.97).
Heat two was considerably faster, with World leader Wilfred Bungei bringing a tight six-man pack through the bell in 51.35. While Dutchman Bram Som was shadowing the Kenyan, Russian Yuriy Borzakovskiy made his first attack, moving from seventh position into fourth, and tucking in behind South African Hezekiel Sepeng, the 1996 silver medallist. Borzakovskiy dropped back briefly as he headed into the final straight, only to shift gears again moments later to charge into second place to secure the automatic spot behind winner Bungei, who clocked 1:44.28. The Russian was just 1/100 of a second behind. With a solid sustained kick over the final 60 metres, Mouhssin Chehibi of Morocco finished third in 1:44.62, a personal best by more than a second. Sepeng held on for fourth in 1:44.75. Chehibi and Sepeng gained the final two non-automatic qualifiers.
In the first heat, Djabir Said Guerni, the last to qualify from yesterday’s first round, avoided a repeat performance and near disaster by jumping to the lead just 300 meters into the race. The reigning World champion stayed there, and reached the line in 1:45.76. But behind him, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi and Antonio Manuel Reina waged a fierce homestretch battle for the second spot, with the South African, this year’s World Indoor champion, ultimately gaining the upper hand. Mulaudzi reached the line in 1:46.09, less than a tenth of a second ahead of the Spaniard. 1500 finalist Ivan Heshko was a distant fourth in 1:46.66.
BR
