Women’s 800m semifinal round up
The woman who has won three consecutive world titles, Maria Mutola, made sure she remained in contention for an historic fourth by qualifying easily for the 800m final this morning. The Mozambican athlete took control of the 2nd semi-final from the gun, leading the Swiss athlete Stephanie Graf. Cruising past halfway in 59.15, she took the bell in 1:31.25 and increased her speed to come home in 2:02.18. Hear the race call in the multimedia section
The earlier race, won by the Czech athlete Ludmila Formanova in 1:59.52, was a more competitive affair. Formanova had to overtake Natalya Tsyganova on the last bend and the Russian took the other automatic qualifying spot with 1:59.96. The two fastest losers also qualified from this race – Hasna Benhassi of Morocco (2:00.30) and Meredith Rainey-Valmon (2:00.75)
