2010 World Indoors Day 1 Men's Report - 3,000, 800, 1,500 Heats

Nick Symmonds' Lane Violation DQ Dampens Otherwise Bright Day For Americans

By LetsRun.com
March 12, 2010

On the first day of the World Indoor Championships from Doha, the US distance men had a great day except for the disqualification of Nick Symmonds, who ran the 2nd-fastest time in the first round of the men's 800. The race judges determined Symmonds ran out of his lane in the first lap. In other action, Bernard Lagat won his heat of the 3,000 while Galen Rupp got a bit lucky to move forward after finishing 5th in the sprint finish. We recap the distance and mid-distance events below.

Men's 3,000m Semifinal - Lagat Cruises, Rupp Squeaks Through To Final As Other Favorites Advance
*Semifinal Results

Heat 1 Of 2
New European 3,000m record-holder Sergio Sánchez of Spain started the race off at a quick pace, beckoned for the others to do some work, and then took over the lead again. Thanks to the urging of Sánchez, the first heat was won in a fast time and the first 6 competitors all went through to the final. Kenyan Augustine Choge won in 7:43 and was followed by medal threats Dejen Gebremeskel and Sánchez. Surprisingly, no other competitors were able to crack 8:05, which set the stage for the runners in the next heat to advance despite a slow pace.

Position	Bib	Athlete	Country	Mark	.
1	217	Augustine Kiprono Choge	KEN	7:43.80 Q	.
2	122	Dejen Gebremeskel	ETH	7:44.26 Q	(PB)
3	117	Sergio Sánchez	ESP	7:44.33 Q	.
4	271	James Kwalia C'Kurui	QAT	7:44.61 Q	(PB)
5	104	Hais Welday	ERI	7:45.44 q	(NR)
6	233	Hicham Bellani	MAR	7:50.46 q	.
7	15	Hayle Ibrahimov	AZE	8:05.43	(PB)
8	53	Tareq Mubarak Taher	BRN	8:14.67	(SB)
9	237	Ion Luchianov	MDA	8:15.91	(SB)

Heat 2 Of 2
After a relatively quick heat 1, no runner was willing to push the pace in heat 2. Nonetheless, all the favorites would advance, as 35-year-old American Bernard Lagat kicked beautifully to win the heat narrowly over Tariku Bekele (Kenenisa Bekele's younger brother), and Kenyan Sammy Mutahi. Galen Rupp was in a precarious position, as he closed the last kilometer in 2:27 but found himself in 5th at the finish line, though less than 1 second from first.

Luckily for Rupp, he and even the runner behind him from Qatar qualified for the final as the IAAF are taking 12 men to the final. It should be a crowded and wild final on Sunday.

Position	Bib	Athlete	Country	Mark	.
1	347	Bernard Lagat	USA	7:59.99 Q	(SB)
2	119	Tariku Bekele	ETH	8:00.29 Q	.
3	221	Sammy Alex Mutahi	KEN	8:00.53 Q	.
4	108	Jesús España	ESP	8:00.65 Q	.
5	358	Galen Rupp	USA	8:00.90 q	(SB)
6	274	Essa Ismail Rashed	QAT	8:01.08 q	.
7	201	Gezachw Yossef	ISR	8:03.62	(SB)
8	161	Scott Overall	GBR	8:08.02	.
9	320	Marco Joseph	TAN	8:22.18	(PB)

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Men's 800m Quarterfinals - Nick Symmonds Disqualified For Lane Violation
*IAAF Event Report
*Full 800 Quarterfinal Results

Things were off to a dramatic start, as America's top 800m man Nick Symmonds was disqualified for a lane violation after crossing the line in 2nd place. Sudan's Olympic Champion Ismail Ahmed Ismail won the heat easily in 1:46.69, the fastest time of the first round. Briton Andrew Osagie was moved up to 2nd after the unfortunate disqualification for Symmonds. Symmonds' time would have been the 2nd-fastest run on the day.

Heat 2 went to form as the other top Sudanese athlete Abubaker Kaki safely made it through to the next round winning by a narrow margin over Spaniard David Bustos. Brazilian Fabiano Peçanha nabbed a time qualifying spot with an indoor personal best 1:48.29.

Position	Lane	Bib	Athlete	Country	Mark	.
1	6	309	Abubaker Kaki	SUD	1:47.48 Q	.
2	2	107	David Bustos	ESP	1:47.65 Q	.
3	3	50	FabiaFabiano Peçanha/td>	BRA	1:48.29 q	(PB)
4	4	146	Ed Aston	GBR	1:50.32	.
5	5	240	Edgar Cortez	NCA	1:58.47	(PB

Heat 3 was led from wire to wire by Kevin Hautcoeur of France in 1:50.61. This was the weakest of the three heats time-wise.
(Editor's Note: Earlier we mistook 4th-place David McCarthy (bio) for the David McCarthy who used to run for Providence College (bio). We apologize for the error.)

In Heat 4, American Duane Solomon went to the front and, despite losing ground in the final laps, managed to pass on to the next round with a time qualifier. American-based Boaz Lalang - the 2010 Millrose Games 800m champion - won the heat in 1:49.16 and Spain's Luis Alberto Marco grabbed the other top 2 automatic qualifying spot.

Position	Lane	Bib	Athlete	Country	Mark	.
1	3	220	Boaz Kiplagat Lalang	KEN	1:49.16 Q	.
2	5	111	Luis Alberto Marco	ESP	1:49.57 Q	.
3	4	361	Duane Solomon	USA	1:49.69 q	.
4	6	227	Mohammad Al-Azemi	KUW	1:52.54	.
5	2	69	Elie Monga	COD	1:57.02	(PB)
6	1	297	Iulio Lafai	SAM	2:07.08	(PB)

In Heat 5,American-based Haitian Moise Joseph led the first laps, bringing the final heat through in only 54 seconds. Polish standout Adam Kszczot took over from Bahrain's talented Belal Mansoor Ali to win the heat, while Ali fell back to 5th in one of his first races of the season and did not advance in the slowest heat.

Position	Lane	Bib	Athlete	Country	Mark	.
1	3	256	Adam Kszczot	POL	1:50.15 Q	.
2	6	13	Andreas Rapatz	AUT	1:50.35 Q	.
3	5	187	Moise Joseph	HAI	1:50.43	.
4	2	231	Vitalij Kozlov	LTU	1:50.92	.
5	4	52	Belal Mansoor Ali	BRN	1:51.22	(SB)
6	1	238	Moussa Camara	MLI	1:55.84	(PB)

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Men's 1,500 - 3 Semifinal Heats - American Garrett Heath Makes World Final
*IAAF Event Report
*Event Results

Heat 1 Of 3 - After running 60-second 400 pace for the first 1,200m, Moroccan Amine Laalou won the first heat in a sprint finish over South African miler Juan van Deventer. Kenya's Gideon Gathimba did not advance to the final, missing 2nd place and auto-qualification by only 0.01 seconds.

Position	Bib	Athlete	Country	Mark	.
1	236	Amine Laalou	MAR	3:39.96 Q	(PB)
2	277	Juan van Deventer	RSA	3:40.07 Q	.
3	218	Gideon Gathimba	KEN	3:40.08	.
4	126	Abdelkader Bakhtache	FRA	3:40.49	.
5	114	Álvaro Rodríguez	ESP	3:40.96	.
6	265	Bruno Albuquerque	POR	3:44.32	.
7	172	Christian Klein	GER	3:46.14	.
8	273	Abubaker Ali Kamal	QAT	3:46.51

Heat 2 Of 3
After a relatively slow first heat, the second heat didn't get much faster. Race co-favorite Deresse Mekonnen led wire-to-wire to win in 3:39.66. Kenyan Haron Keitany almost paid the price for not taking up the pace, as he missed 2nd place by only 0.04. Keitany was lucky in making the final or else Kenya would have seen both of their men crash out in the preliminary round. American Will Leer finished 4th in 3:42 but was not sharp enough to kick his way into the final.

Leer said after his race: "Disappointed. I'm just disappointed. I just got off too slow in back. I was too far back when they broke and I couldn't cover the move. So I had to settle for fourth in my heat." (from USATF)

Position	Bib	Athlete	Country	Mark	.
1	123	Deresse Mekonnen	ETH	3:39.66 Q	.
2	116	Diego Ruiz	ESP	3:40.00 Q	.
3	219	Haron Keitany	KEN	3:40.04 q	.
4	348	Will Leer	USA	3:42.16	.
5	147	Tim Bayley	GBR	3:42.57	.
6	276	Peter van der Westhuizen	RSA	3:45.76	.
7	269	Thamer Kamal Ali	QAT	3:49.64	.
8	60	Alex Ngouari-Mouissi	CGO	4:02.55	(PB)
9	322	Ajmal Amirov	TJK	4:03.75	(SB)

Heat 3 Of 3
Ethiopian Mekonnen Gebremedhin put his foot on the gas after about 300m to ensure that most of the time qualifiers for the men's 1,500m final came from the final heat. American Garrett Heath was a beneficiary of the fast pace. He set an indoor personal best by running 3:39.25 for 3rd to qualify for the final. Moroccan Abdalaati Iguider showed he is a medal contender by running 3:37.14 to win by almost 2 seconds in the fastest time of the day.

Heath after his race: "Good race, but I missed the gun. I didn't hear it, it didn't sound like a gun to me. But it worked out okay. I was a little farther back than I wanted to be but I stayed out of trouble. It was a lot of fun. I'm excited for tomorrow's final." (from USATF)

Position	Bib	Athlete	Country	Mark	.
1	235	Abdalaati Iguider	MAR	3:37.14 Q	.
2	121	Mekonnen Gebremedhin	ETH	3:38.90 Q	.
3	340	Garrett Heath	USA	3:39.25 q	(PB)
4	139	Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad	FRA	3:39.63 q	.
5	247	Adrian Blincoe	NZL	3:40.50	(PB)
6	307	Goran Nava	SRB	3:42.79	.
7	205	Christian Obrist	ITA	3:46.33	.
.	52	Belal Mansoor Ali	BRN	DNS

 

 

 

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