OREGON22: Omanyala through to World Championships semis

None of the other 100m men competitors had a tougher journey to the blocks than Ferdinand Omanyala, but that did not stop him. 

The African champion and third-fastest man this year, before the Championship, arrived in Oregon with about three hours to the 100m heats, barely had time to go through the pre-race preparations and try to shake off the jetlag before lining up in the last of seven heats. 

He is, against all those odds, through to the 100m semis set for Sunday at 4 am (EAT) (6pm local time) after clocking 10.10 seconds on his heat for third place. 

World leader Fred Kerley stole the show in the 100m heats. The Olympic silver medallist clocked 9.79 to win his heat, the fastest heat time in history at a major championship. 

Meanwhile, two-time Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon easily won her 1500m heat two to qualify for the semifinal.

Kipyegon clocked 4:04.53 to finish ahead of Jess Hull who managed 4:04.68 and Freweyni Hailu (4:04.85), Elle St. Pierre (4:04.94), Hanna Klein (4:05.13), and Adelle Tracey (4:05.14) who advanced automatically from the heat. 

The third heat was the fastest of them all as Gudaf Tsegay clocked 4:02.68 to lead Kenya's Winny Chebet who came in second place in 4:03.12 while Linden Hall was third in 4:03.21.

Judith Kiyeng and Ednah Jebitok did not make it to the semis. Sifan Hassan who was expected to race in the 1500m pulled out to concentrate in 5000m and 10,000m. 

"I am happy with my race today and looking forward to the semis tomorrow as I work my way to the final," Kipyegon said.

"We all came here for the title and although I was looking forward to seeing Hassan in the 1500m, her absence does not take anything away from the competition here. I wish her well in her races here." 

Kipyegon played down the favourite tag saying there are many good athletes in the race but she promised to give her best in the remaining races as she looks to win the title she missed out on in 2019 in Doha where she finished second to Hassan. 

In the men's 3000m steeplechase, defending champions Conseslus Kipruto led 2018 World Under-20 Championships silver medalist Leonard Bett and 2018 Commonwealth Games silver medalist Abraham Kibiwott to qualifying for the final as Olympic bronze medalist Benjamin Kigen failed to go through.