Recap of Round 1 Of Women's 1,500
by: LetsRun.com
August 18, 2009
Berlin, Germany 
 

The women's 1,500m heats featured 2 falls, including one in heat 1 that featured American Shannon Rowbury, who was 7th last year in  Beijing. Perhaps the ladies weren't used to the tight packs and a slow pace. Last year in Beijing, there were only 2 rounds with 11 people in a heat. This year there are 3 rounds and there were 14 in each heat on Tuesday.

Heat 1: Rowbury Goes Down
The fall in heat 1 came 200 meters in. Rowbury went down and quickly got up and after losing 15 meters sprinted to rejoin the pack. She caught back up by 400 meters (this is all second hand info, by the time LetsRun.com's Wejo started watching the race 400 in, Rowbury was with the pack). Russia's Oksana Zbozhek, a sub-2:00 800m runner who moved up to the 1,500 this year, did the early leading. The pace was a modest 2:17.5 at 800.

At the bell, there still was a big pack up front and Rowbury was in 9th with there being 6 automatic qualifying spots for the semis. By the time the horde sorted its way out down the home stretch, Maryam Jamal was in front as expected. The big casualties were Rowbury and Zbrozhek (who has run 4:00 this year). Rowbury in the interview to the right said she is really fit and hopes to get into the semis on appeal.

Editor's note: Update, USATF appealed and Rowbury was put into the semis.

We only caught the end of it. Her full quotes from USATF: "I was running. It was pretty packed up. I got tripped up by the same girl. I fell down at 200, got up, got back to the pack and the same girl cut me off again. It was a little bit frustrating. After falling, I tried to be smart catching up again, but I was a little timid by the time I got going again. I'm pretty disappointed. But that's how it goes sometimes.
 
I'm hoping we will protest. I'm hoping to get another shot at it. That is definitely not what I am capable of. That's how it goes when it's a semi or a quarterfinal. You usually go slow and it's usually packed up. I tried to stay on my feet. But unfortunately today, I was unable to. I was on the outside of lane 1, where everyone wants to be. It was kind of a messy race, with a lot of people moving around in there. I hope I get a chance at going again. I hope I have a chance of making the finals."

1	184	Maryam Yusuf Jamal	BRN	4:08.76 Q
2	305	Nuria Fernández	ESP	4:08.79 Q
3	321	Meskerem Assefa	ETH	4:08.86 Q
4	630	Mariem Alaoui Selsouli	MAR	4:08.86 Q
5	937	Iryna Lishchynska	UKR	4:08.95 Q
6	623	Irina Krakoviak	LTU	4:08.96 Q
7	591	Viola Jelagat Kibiwot	KEN	4:09.18 q
8	706	Lidia Chojecka	POL	4:09.38 q
9	838	Oksana Zbrozhek	RUS	4:09.84
10	407	Charlene Thomas	GBR	4:09.91
11	1023	Shannon Rowbury	USA	4:10.30
12	863	Marina Muncan	SRB	4:15.18
13	629	Eliane Saholinirina	MAD	4:16.63
14	250	Eva Pereira	CPV	5:04.95	(PB)

Heat 2: Another Fall
If Heat 1's fall wasn't enough, heat 2 features an even more violent fall. Gelete Burka led through 800 in 2:16.8. Then 900m in Kenya's Irene Jelagat and France's Hind Déhiba Chahyd went down, with Jelagat going down hard. By the time Jelagat got up, it was way too late.

Burka would go on to win the heat in 4:07.75, just ahead of Natalia Rodríguez of Spain and Lisa Dobriskey of the UK. The US's Anna Willard, who has won the 1,500 in London and got the Golden League Paris 800m win, moved up late on the final stretch to finish 5th. She had been on the inside when the fell occurred and managed to avoid the wreckage.

1	326	Gelete Burka	ETH	4:07.75 Q
2	312	Natalia Rodríguez	ESP	4:07.84 Q
3	385	Lisa Dobriskey	GBR	4:07.90 Q
4	788	Natalya Evdokimova	RUS	4:08.06 Q
5	1038	Anna Willard	USA	4:08.13 Q
6	634	Btissam Lakhouad	MAR	4:08.21 Q
7	183	Mimi Belete	BRN	4:08.36 q
8	695	Nikki Hamblin	NZL	4:09.60 q
9	350	Hind Déhiba Chahyd	FRA	4:11.41
10	952	Tamara Tverdostup	UKR	4:13.36
11	922	Alemitu Bekele	TUR	4:13.69	(SB)
12	664	Susan Kuijken	NED	4:18.10
13	587	Irene Jelagat	KEN	4:27.36
14	662	Aldy Villalobos	NCA	4:50.55	(PB)

Heat 3: Christin Wurth-Thomas Avoids Trouble
In heat 3 the USA's Christin Wurth-Thomas, with her 3:59.98 clocking this year, did her best to avoid any falls by running from the front. She would remain there nearly the entire race. Her splits were 70.0, 2:18.4 and 3:21.3. She had the strained look on her face throughout but easily held on down the stretch to finish fourth as the top 8 would all make the final.

Russia's Anna Alminova got the win over last year's surprise gold medallist Nancy Langat of Kenya.

1	776	Anna Alminova	RUS	4:08.13 Q
2	597	Nancy Jebet Langat	KEN	4:08.16 Q
3	331	Kalkidan Gezahegne	ETH	4:08.23 Q
4	1041	Christin Wurth-Thomas	USA	4:08.23 Q
5	710	Sylwia Ejdys	POL	4:08.59 Q
6	857	Sonja Roman	SLO	4:08.65 Q
7	941	Anna Mishchenko	UKR	4:09.26 q
8	307	Iris Fuentes-Pila	ESP	4:09.71 q
9	663	Adrienne Herzog	NED	4:10.10
10	633	Siham Hilali	MAR	4:10.57
11	490	Deirdre Byrne	IRL	4:12.19
12	408	Stephanie Twell	GBR	4:18.23
13	655	Sladjana Pejovic	MNE	4:28.67
14	238	Francine Nzilampa	COD	4:30.56	(NR)

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