(L-R) Mohammed Aman of Ethiopia, Jakub Holusa of the Czech Republic and Ismail Ahmed Ismail of Sudan race for the line in the Men's 800 Metres first round during day one - WIC Istanbul (© Getty Images)
Noone ever qualifies by reputation, the latest athlete to learn this harsh lesson being Ismail Ahmed Ismail of the Sudan.
Silver medallist in the 800 metres at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, fourth in the final at the Doha 2010 World Indoor Championships, Ismail was unceremoniously dumped on the opening morning of Istanbul 2012 when he finished third in his heat behind Jakub Holusa of the Czech Republic and Mohammed Aman of Ethiopia.
With only the first two in each heat automatically advancing to Saturday night’s semi-finals, that left Ismail in a parlous situation. He hung on as the last of the non-automatic qualifiers until the sixth and final heat, ultimately missing out by just one place.
Ismail aside, the favourites advanced as expected. With Abubaker Kaki not defending the title he won in Doha, the 2010 silver and bronze medallists, Boaz Lalang (KEN) and Adam Kszczot (POL), were comfortably through, as were the six fastest men in the field.
Lalang ran fastest time of the round in winning the sixth and final heat in 1: 49.50. Kszczot was second in the first heat close behind Spain’s veteran Antonio Reina (1:50.02).
Kenya’s other representative, Timothy Kitum, left himself with plenty of work to do when he was fourth at the bell in the second heat. But he did the work impressively, coming home a 1:49.47 winner ahead of Qatar’s Musaeb Balla, who won a desperate battle for second with Andrew Osagie (GBR) and Raphael Pallitsch (AUT).
Osagie fell at the line, but the pain was eased when both he and Pallitsch advanced to the semis on time.
Joe Thomas (GBR) won the fourth heat from Andreas Rapatz (AUT) and Jan Van Den Broeck (BEL) beat Marcin Lewandowski (POL) in the fifth heat. This was the roughest of the heats, perhaps explained by the slow first 400 of almost 59 seconds.
That left Ismail with a slim hope, but when Uganda’s Julius Mutekanga finished third in the final heat in 1:49.81 behind Lalang and Michael Rutt (USA), Ismail was out.
Len Johnson for the IAAF
