Kenya put up a strong showing in the men’s 800m and 1,500m heats, spurred to victories in their respective heats.

Noah Kibet and Emmanuel Wanyonyi won their respective heats in the 800m, with Vincent Kibet and Kamar Etyang following suit in their 1,500m heats in the afternoon session.

Wanyonyi led from start to finish to win heat three with the overall fastest time of 1:46.5, inspiring Yanis Meziane of France to a personal best of 1:47.28 in second place.

Kibet, initially challenged by Czech Republic’s Jakub Davidik, held his own to cross the line in 1:46.70 as the latter followed in 1:47.84. Algerian Heithem Chenitef raced to a lifetime best of 1:49.19 in third. Another Algerian, Mohamed Ali Gouaned, won heat four with a time of 1:48.83 as Poland’s Kacper Lewalski also won his heat.

In the men’s 1,500m, it was Vincent Kibet who set the best qualification time of 3:42.35, with his compatriot Etyang, keen to recover from the disappointment of being dropped from the Tokyo Olympic Games, coming a close second in terms of time after won his heat with 3:44.75.

Other automatic qualifiers were Ethiopians Azize Melkeneh and Wegene Addisu,   Eritrea’s Abderezak Suleman, Uganda Peter Maru, Spaniard Paul Oriach and Frenchman Ylies Mihoubi.

Santtu Heikkinen of Finland and Eritrean Dawit Seare made it through alongside Hamza Bouchallikh (Morocco) and Burundi’s Jean De Dieu Butoyi as the best losers from the heats.

Women’s 800m heats

Ethiopia’s Ayal Dagnachew was the quickest across the women’s 800m heats, dominating heat one with a personal best of 2:02.94 while Greece’s Elli Eftychia Deligianni followed with 2:05.38. Hungarian Zita Urban finished third with a personal best of 2:07.39.

Also qualifying for the semifinal from heat two was another Ethiopian – Mebriht Mekonen – alongside Belgium’s Annelies Nijssen and Sri Lanka’s Tharushi Dissanayaka.

Canadian Avery Pearson was too strong for the rest of the field in heat three with her time of 2:07.99, ahead of Switzerland’s Valentina Rosamilia (2:08.89) and Mexico’s Lorena Rangel (2:09.86).

The final heat was won by European U20 silver medalist Svitlana Zhulzhyk of Ukraine in 2:07.61. Spanish athlete Marina Martinez and Veronika Sadek were second and third respectively in 2:08.21 and 2:08.34.

PHOTO/COURTESY