Belgrade 2022: Dominant Kipsang through to the 1500m final
Reading Time: 2min | Sat. 19.03.22. | 15:40
The Kenyan was the second fastest throughout the all four Heats
If you can judge someone by the first race, Kenya’s Abel Kipsang is ready for the medal at the Belgrade World Indoor Championships. The fourth-place finisher in Tokyo Olympics won in Heat 4 in today’s 1500m race and qualified for the final. Kipsang (3:37:67) won ahead of Oliver Hoare, who finished second with 3:38.43 and the Kenyan actually produced the second-best time in all heats, only to his greatest rival, Ethiopia’s Samuel Tefera, who finished first in Heat 3 with 3:37.05.
Another Ethiopian, Teddese Lemi finished first in Heat 1 with 3:38:25, while Britain’s Neil Gourley was first in Heat 2 with 3:42.79.
Kipsang was dominant in his race and the tactics were simple: go out and destroyed them all. And the Kenyan did just that, as he took the first place from the first step and never let go. During the first four laps, he was two meters ahead of Gourley and co. and while they managed to catch him up in the next two laps, Kipsang was not gonna be denied at the end.
According to the results from all four heats, it’s gonna be Tefera and Kipsang in for the first place and the goal medal. The 1500m men finals will take place on Sunday, at 20:35 Nairobi time, and the Kenyans have a right to be optimistic about this one.
