(BEIJING, August 21) -- It wasn't sweat glistening on the faces of runners in the Men's 800m semifinal at the Bird's Nest on Thursday night, but rather, a lot of rain. In the midst of this downpour, eight men came out on top to qualify for the final, led by Alfred Kirwa Yego of Kenya.
Yego, 2007 IAAF world champ in this event, clocked 1:44.73. He was followed by 18-year-old Ismail Ahmed Ismail of Sudan, who crossed the finish in 1:44.91. With these two athletes setting the tempo, heat two turned out to be the fastest of the semifinal round, as both the third and fourth placed runners, Saad Yusuf Kamel (Bahrain) and Nadjim Manseur (Algeria) ran the next fastest two times in the 800m, qualifying them for a chance for the gold.
In heat one, the first and second place winners were Wilfred Bungei of Kenya, who clocked 1:46.23, and Yeimer Lopez of Cuba, who came in at 1:46.40. With a time of 1:46.53, third-placed Yuri Borzakovsky of Russia, defending Olympic champion in this event, failed to qualify for the final.
The other two 800m runners who automatically qualified for the final by coming in one and two in their heat were Nabil Madi of Algeria, who timed 1:45.63 and Gary Reed of Canada, with 1:45.85. Reed took the silver behind Yego at the 2007 IAAF World Championships.
Perhaps the rain affected the performance of Abubaker Kaki of Sudan, who claimed the title in the Men's 800m at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He was the last of the last of the last Thursday night, running the slowest semifinal time of 1:49.19 to come in eighth place in the third heat of the event.
The final is scheduled to take place on Saturday, August 23 at 7:30 p.m. in the National Stadium.
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