Kiprop, Manangoi, Kwemoi in men 1500m semis

Beijing 2008 Olympics gold medallist and three-time world champion, Asbel Kiprop exuded class as he motored to a convincing victory in the heats of the men 1500m at the Rio 2016 Summer Games.

Compatriots, Worlds silver medalist Elijah Manangoi and World Junior record holder Ronald Kwemoi both finished second in their races to join the favourite in Thursday’s semis with the Kenyan out to dethrone Algeria’s Taoufik Makhloufi as Olympic champion in the metric mile distance.

The lanky Kiprop lingered towards the back of the leading pack for much of the race, as France’s Florian Carvalho made the pace through to 900 metres, but then started to ease past his rivals with 300 metres to go.

With the race passing though 1200 metres in 2:57.68, this pace was well within the Daegu 2011, Moscow 2013 and Beijing 2015 world champion’s comfort zone.

He was third going into the final bend and then his long, almost languid, stride took him into the lead and he managed to repel all challenges down the home straight. Kiprop’s performance was still a confident display of running despite the fact no one challenged him hard as he crossed the line in 3:38.97.

Ryan Gregson (3:39.13) of Australia and 2013 World 1500m bronze medallist, Ayanleh Souleiman from Djibouti (3:39.25) rounded the top three.

Manangoi led the second heat from almost the gun to tape, controlling the pace as he wished in a much slower heat than the first one.

In the end he was just pipped by London 2012 champion Makhloufi, who eased through in the final two metres to secure the win, the Algerian back on the track barely 12 hours after winning the 800m silver medal in Rio.

Makhloufi won in 3:46.82 with Manangoi just 0.01 in arrears.

With qualification places as fastest losers on the line the third heat was faster. In terms of the way it unfolded, it was similar to the previous heats with a large group still in contention at the bell and content to just sprint for the line coming off the final bend.

Czech Republic’s Jakub Holusa, who is hard to beat in races at this speed owing to his sprint abilities, won in 3:38.31 with Kenya’s highly rated 20-year-old Kwemoi just 0.02 behind and Morocco’s world bronze medallist Abdalaati Iguider third a further 0.07 back.

Material from IAAF/iaaf.org used in this report

SELECTED RESULTS

HEAT 1

HEAT 2

HEAT 3