World leader Kutre Dulecha of Ethiopia and defending silver medallist Kelly Holmes were the comfortable winners in the semi-finals of the women’s 1500 metres.
Dulecha, the World 4K cross country champion in 2000, was in control of the first race from the outset en route to a 4:08.23 win, just ahead of steeplechase world record holder Gulnara Samitova who clocked 4:08.48. Bulgarian Daniela Yordanova made her seasonal debut an auspicious one, running 4:08.50 and moving on to the Saturday’s final. Ukrainian Nataliya Tobias (4:08.96), Lidia Okninska of Poland and Carmen Douma-Hussar (4:09.28) of Canada all advanced on time.
Kelly Holmes looked to be in strong command of the second semi final, winning comfortably in 4:11.15. Equally as relaxed were the second and third place finishers, Alesya Turova of Belorus and Russian Yuliya Kosenkova, who clocked 4:11.36 and 4:11.37 respectively. Sonja Roman of Slovenia was fourth in a personal best 4:11.72, but not fast enough to move onto the next round.
The most notable non-qualifier was hometown favorite Judit Varga. The Hungarian record holder finished a disappointing seventh in the first heat in 4:10.71.
