Men’s 1500 Round 1: The New Qualifying System is a Success As Joe Waskom Goes Home
By LetsRun.com
BUDAPEST, Hungary – Saturday’s action at the opening day of the World Athletics Championships was highlighted by a crazy women’s 10,000m where Sifan Hassan made contact with Gudaf Tsegay meters from the finish and fell to the track leaving with no medal instead of the gold Tsegay got. Then 23 minutes, Hassan’s countrywoman Femke Bol tumlbed to the track less than 10 meters from gold in the mixed gender 4×400 as the USA broke the world record.
Those stories get separate articles above. In qualifying action, in the morning Kenneth Rooks beat El Bakkali in the steeple as all three American women advanced in the 1500 , and we recap the men’s 1500m and men’s 100m qualifying below.
Men’s 1500
The men’s 1500 got under way and almost all of the major players advanced through to Sunday’s semi-finals of the men’s 1500. The only notable casualties were Australia’s Stewy McSweyn and America’s Joe Waskom. Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen and bronze medallist Josh Kerr kicked things off in heat 1 and both were magnificent as finished 1-2 in the fastest two times of the day, 3:33.94 and 3:34.00.
The Olympic silver medallist Timothy Cheruiyot was in heat 2 with Joe Waskom and the heat ended up being the slowest of the day and the one with the wildest finish. With no time qualifiers this year, everyone was gunning for a top 6 finish and coming off the final turn virtually the entire heat was still in contention (thanks to a 2:12 opening 800), as in the end the top 11 would be separated by just 0.72. Cheruiyot was in front but he’d fade all the way to 6th. Cheruiyot’s slowdown didn’t help Waskom who was terribly boxed in in lane 1. On two different occasions, Waskom tried to move wide only to come back inside both times. He lost a lot of momentum on one of these attempts and ended up 8th.
McSweyn, on the other hand, was in Heat 3 and was the first man out. McSweyn was in the lead at 800m, but continued to fade throughout the race as the top 6 clearly separated themselves from the rest of the field in the final 400m.
The other two Americans, Cole Hocker (3rd in Heat 3 in 3:34.43) and Yared Nuguse (2nd in Heat 4 in 3:34.16), both qualified pretty smoothly to the next round.
Three countries sent all 3 of their athletes to the next round – Kenya, Spain, and Great Britain.
New qualification system well received
The new qualification system of only Q’s was on full display for the men’s 1500 Friday evening in Budapest. Heats 1, 3, and 4 were all won between times of 3:33.94 and 3:34.25. However, heat 2 was won in 3:46.77. The entirety of the other heats (other than the impeded men in heat 1) would have placed in front of heat 2. That being said, the change to only Q’s is fairer to the athletes in the first few heats and makes the mad dash to the finish like in heat 2 more entertaining for the fans.
Quick Take: This isn’t the NCAA
Joe Waskom learned the competition at the Worlds level is at another level than the NCAAs. Waskom had a very respectable last lap, but things aren’t guaranteed to open up at this level when the opening 800 is 2:12. Likewise positioning at the bell matters more in a slow race.
Quick Take: Cole Hocker says his 13th-place finish in London was not indicative of his current fitness
Hocker’s last 1500 was in London on July 23 and he was not happy with the way it went. Even though Hocker ran 3:32.14, the second-best time of his career, he finished well down the field in 13th place. But Hocker said he was also dealing with a case of jet lag – he had landed in Europe just 36 hours earlier – and said he did not feel like himself on race day.
“I’m a competitor,” Hocker said. “I hated getting beaten by that many guys in one race. I can’t remember the last time I got beat by that many guys. And then I kind of thought about it: if I can do that off of how I know my body felt that day, 3:32, competing still up until the last 100 meters, if anything that gave me a little bit of confidence.”
Hocker says that with six weeks between USAs and Worlds, he believes he has been able to add fitness rather than simply maintaining. And he’s been in Europe since London, so he said there will be no excuses if he underperforms at Worlds.
Quick Take: Yared Nuguse is just here to have fun
Nuguse is a pretty chill guy. After today’s race, he was asked what would constitute a successful meet for him. Top five? A medal? Nope.
“Just having fun,” Nuguse said. “I could come away with freakin’ first or fourth, but if I had a terrible time winning for some reason, that would be a little less fulfilling than if I had a great time, great race, and really enjoyed myself.”
Of course, having fun and earning a medal aren’t mutually exclusive – most athletes who earn a medal do have fun. But even though many have placed expectations on Nuguse in this meet, he is not worried about having to live up to them.
“If I go out there and have fun, then I don’t care,” Nuguse said. “I’m sure everyone will be behind me (supporting me) anyway.”’
Nuguse has a fan club both here in Eugene and his native Kentucky. His high school coach made up the following t-shirt for the fans.
Quick Take: Niels Laros looked incredible
The 18-year-old Dutchman has had an incredible 2023 campaign, setting pbs of 1:44/3:32/13:23 and winning Euro U20 gold at 1500 and 5000. Tonight was his debut at a senior global championship but he ran like a savvy pro, staying out of trouble and cruising through to the semis by winning heat 3 in 3:34.25. It’s going to be fun to see what he can do in the semis (and final?).
Quick Take: Adel Mechaal thinks he is fast enough to medal but admits he will need Ingebrigtsen to have a bad day to win
You can make an argument that no country’s World Championship team was tougher to make in 2023 than Spain’s. Adel Mechaal, who was 5th at the 2021 Olympics, won the race and had to beat last year’s 3rd and 4th placers at Worlds, Mo Katir and Mario Garcia Romo, in order to do so. Ignacio Fontes, a 2021 Olympic and 2022 World finalist, did not even make the team.
Mechaal may have to break 3:30 in order to earn his first career medal (he has come close before – in addition to his 5th at the 2021 Olympics, he was 4th at the 2017 Worlds). And he believes that is possible for him – even though, at age 32, his personal best is 3:30.77.
“Mo Katir [ran] 3:28 in Oslo, Mario Romo ran 3:29, and I beat them both in the Spanish championship, running 3:33, a Spanish championship record,” Mechaal said. “…I feel I am in my best shape.”
As confident as he is, Mechaal admitted that he would need Jakob Ingebrigtsen to be off his game in the final to have any shot at gold.
“Hopefully he has a bad day,” Mechaal said. “That is the truth. Sadly, but that is the truth.”
Men’s 100 First Round: Cravont Charleston Goes Home
The men’s 100 got off to a blazing start tonight in Budapest. All of the top sprint stars moved onto Sunday’s semi-final except for U.S. 100m Champion Cravont Charleston. Charleston placed 5th in heat 3 running 10.18. Charleston appeared to be nursing an injury, as he participated with a sleeve on his leg and was limping slightly as he came off the track.
The 2022 100m world champion, Fred Kerley, looked good and seemed confident as he ran 9.99 to finish second in his heat. After his race he told Lewis Johnson that “I know what I got to do tomorrow – win.” Kerley placed behind 2022 4th place finisher and fastest qualifier of the day, Jamaica’s Oblique Seville (9.86).
The other two Americans, Noah Lyles and Christian Coleman, both cruised to the next round running 9.95 to win heat 2 and 9.98 for second in heat 7, respectively. Lyles’ start was not the best, but he made up for it in the last 60 meters of the race. Opposingly, Coleman got off to a blazing start and shut it down in the latter half of the race.
Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs advanced to the next round by the skin of his teeth, running 10.15 for the last automatic qualifier in heat 6. While he set a season’s best in this race, he did not look comfortable at all and is questionable to even make the final this year.
Other medal contenders, including Zharnel Hughes (1st in heat 1 in 10.00), Ferdinand Omanyala (2nd in heat 2 in 9.97), Akani Simbine (1st in heat 7 in 9.97) and Lestile Tebogo (1st in heat 4 in 10.11), all smoothly advanced to the semi-final.
*Worlds results and schedule here
More Saturday News:
LRC Down Goes Hassan! Gudaf Tsegay Wins Dramatic 10K Final at 2023 Worlds Sifan Hassan was 30 meters from gold but went down after contact with Tsegay in the home straight.
