A mouthwatering final beckons tomorrow as the ‘big four’ all comfortably advanced into what could prove one of the best races of the championships.
Three of the major contenders were drawn in heat one and world 1500m champion Marjam Jamal of Bahrain looked the most composed, easing to the heat win in 4:07.43.
World record holder Yelena Soboleva - subject to ratification - and Ethiopia’s Gelete Burka has a brief elbow tussle on the last bend, with the larger Russian not unsurprisingly winning this particular battle to take second in (4:07.85) from Burka, who secured the third automatic spot in 4:08.24.
A worthy footnote to the race was the bravery of US champion Christin Wurth-Thomas. Realising the race was winding to a somewhat predictable conclusion she had the guts to dash to the front to inject some genuine pace into the proceedings with 800m remaining.
The American stretched the field and although she was swallowed up by superior athletes on the penultimate lap she gamely plugged away to finish sixth in 4:10.56. However, the time was not quite quick enough - 0.47 too slow - to bag one of the three fast loser spots.
Heat two witnessed no major upset for defending champion Yuliya Fomenko, the final member of the lead quartet The Russian took up the pace with five laps remaining and in characteristic fashion simply ran the rest of the field ragged, stopping the clock to win in 4:05.94.
Behind her Romania’s Liliana Popescu, the former World Youth champion, powered through in the latter stages to qualify second in 4:06.68 with Slovenian’s Sonja Roman (4:08.12) securing the third automatic spot.
Two of the three fastest losers came from this race, as Bulgaria’s Daniela Yordanova (4:08.44) and Bouchra Ghezielle of France 4:08.83 also advanced to the eagerly anticipated nine-strong final.
Steve Landells for the IAAF
