Yusuf Saad Kamal won the most difficult 800m heat on Friday and advanced to the finals. © www.photorun.net

The winner of the 1500-meter title, Yusuf Saad Kamel from Bahrain, will be on the starting line for the men’s 800m final. This will be a big race for Kamel since he stands a chance to win two gold medals at the world championships—something achieved by his father, Billy Konchellah.

Kamel won the second of three semi-finals on Friday evening in 1:45.01 minutes—a heat that was clearly the toughest of the three preliminary races thanks to a random draw that had assembled the best middle-distance runners in the world for this one semi-final. Finishing behind Kamel but qualifying for the final were Yuriy Borzakovskiy (Russia/1:45.16), Alfred Yego, the defending champion (Kenya/1:45.22), and Mbulaeni Mulaudzi (South Africa/1:45.26).

The surprise winner of the first semi-final was the American, Nick Symonds, who crossed the line in 1:45.96. In this race, the favorite, Abubaker Kaki suffered a misfortune when he made contact with the foot of another competitor behind him on the second turn, lost his balance, and fell. Bram Som (Netherlands) and Marcin Lewandowski (Poland) then fell over Kaki, which unfortunately prevented them from reaching the final. Amine Laalou of Morocco won the third semi-final in 1:45.27.

There were also upsets in the women’s 1500m. The Olympic champion, Nancy Langat, will not be in Sunday’s final. In the second semi-final heat, she was unable to keep up with the winner, Gelete Burka of Ethiopia, who controlled the race the entire time from the front and won in 4:10.19. Langat finished seventh in 4:11.10.

In the other heat, the defending champion, Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain (4:03.64), looked in command when she narrowly beat Natalia Rodriguez (Spain/4:03.73) and Lisa Dobriskey (Great Britain/4:03.84).

There were no track finals in Friday evening’s schedule in the Olympic stadium.