Faith Chepng'etich, Volah Lagat enter 1,500m semis

IN RIO DE JANEIRO

Kenya's 400m sprinters have attributed their early exit from the Olympics to intense training at a new environment and the altitude.

Alex Sampao, Raymond Kibet and former Youth Olympics bronze medallist Alphas Kashoyian all failed to advance to the semi final of the one-lap race at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on Friday.

Faith Chepng'etich and Violah Lagat, meanwhile, progressed to the semi-finals of the women's 1,500m. Nancy Chepkweimoi was the only one who failed to secure her berth.

However, all the sprinters expressed satisfaction in their performance on their debut at the Olympics.

"I feel strong but I don't know what happened. My target was to do 44 seconds but I didn't even attain 45. But I'm glad to have represented Kenya at the Olympics," said Sampao who timed 46.62 for a seventh place finish in heat one.

In heat two, Kibet also missed out on a semis berth after managing 46.15 for a fifth place before Kashoyian followed suit by clocking 46.74 to finish fifth in heat 3 that was won by reigning world champion, Wayde van Niekerk, of South Africa who timed 45.26.

"My strategy was to begin at a very fast pace then ease off in the final 200m. The plan failed to work but I'm not that disappointed this being my first time here," Kibet said.

Other than van Niekerk, the other big names to cruise into the semis were 2008 Olympics champion, Lashawn Merritt, of the US who won heat five in 45.28 and Olympic champion Karina James of Granada who topped heat six in 44.93, which the fastest qualification time in all the heats.

In the women's 1,500m, Chepkwemoi was the first to take to the track but finished a disappointing 11th in a heat that world record holder, Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia, won with ease. Chepkwemoi timed 4:15.41 while Dibaba's winning time was 4:10.61.

(READ: Genzebe Dibaba coasts in 1500m heats)

In the second heat, Chepng'etich (4:06.65) led for much of the race but a strong finish by Dutchwoman Safin Hassan (4:06.64) would relegate her to second spot although she had done enough to qualify.

"The race was fine but for now I don't want to say much. Let's wait and see how the semis go," Chepng'etich told journalists after the race at the mixed zone.

Violah on her part barely made it through by virtue of competing in the fastest of the three heats.

She finished eighth in heat three, but her time of 4:08.09 was good enough for her to progress to the semis along with two other competitors who finished behind her.

"My main undoing was staying on the inside. By the time I moved out, it was too late. But it was important to qualify first. My strategy in the semis will be to run from the front," she said.

The first six finishers from each heat and the next fastest finishers advanced to the semi-finals set for Monday at 3:30am (Kenyan time).

GATHIMBA 'WALKS OUT'

Meanwhile, after getting off to a promising start, Kenyan race walker Samuel Gathimba did not finish the men's 20km walk race.

His teammate Simon Wachira also failed to finish the event that was won by Chinese walker Zhen Wang who led his compatriot Zelin Cai to a one-two finish.

Gathimba, who came into the Olympics fresh from winning the African crown in Durban, South Africa, briefly flirted with Olympic glory as he stayed on the shoulders of early leader Tom Bosworth of Great Britain up to the 8km mark.

But as the race approached the half way mark, he got swallowed up by a group of chasers led by Daisuke Matsunaga of Japan and Dane Bird-Smith of Australia.

At the 10km, Gathimba had fallen well behind the leading pack of more than 10 walkers as the real contestants took charge of the race with the lead changing hands severally before the Chinese pair eventually shot to the front to walk their way to gold and silver medals.