Cheruiyot bosses semis to keep gold dream alive

IN DOHA

Kenya's Timothy Cheruiyot bossed the semi-finals to ease into the 1500m final at the World Athletics Championships here on Friday.

The Kenyan silver medallist in 2017 London, timed 3:36.53 to finish ahead of 2012 Olympic champion Taoufik Makhloufi of Morocco (3:36.69) and Great Britain's Neil Gourley (3:36.69).

Cheruiyot's compatriot Rodgers Kwemoi also made it to the final after finishing second in the second semi-final in 3:36.53 behind Poland's Marcin Lewandowski, who clocked 3:36.50.

Cheruiyot, who is seeking to upgrade the silver medal he claimed at the 2017 World Championships in London, said they employed a strategy of running from the front to escape pushing and shoving from their opponents.

“There was a lot of pushing and shoving in the heats, so we decided to go ahead of the field to avoid such incidences,” the athlete, who finished fifth in the 2013 World Championships in Beijing, told Nation Sport in Doha.

KWEMOI THROUGH

Cheruiyot acknowledged that Makhloufi, who finished second behind him in the race, will present a challenge for Kenya in the final alongside Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski and Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

Kwemoi finished second in his semi-final heat behind Lewandowski (3:36.50) but ahead of third-placed Ingebrigtsen (3:36.58).

Like Cheruiyot, Kwemoi led from the start and controlled the race heading to the bell. He then slowed down with about 200 metres to go to finish second.

The first five athletes from the semi-finals qualified for the final alongside the next two fastest losers.