Paris Olympics: Vivian Chebet secures semi spot as Brunlehner sets national swimming record

2023 African Games bronze medalist Vivian Chebet is through to the women’s 800m semifinals after taking advantage of a second opportunity handed to her through the repechage event on Saturday.

The 28-year-old, who on Friday night missed out on an automatic place in the heats, finished second in Heat 4 of the repechage, clocking a time of 1:59.31 that saw her qualify by virtue of being the fastest loser.

LIVE BLOG: Vivian Chebet through to 800m semis as Brunlehner crashes out

Chebet looked to have taken in the hard lessons from Friday as she bid her time through the first lap and a half, before accelerating at the homestretch, and only missing out on the win to Germany’s Majtie Kolberg.

Chebet, albeit visibly tired from two consecutive days of action, now joins defending world champion Mary Moraa and rookie Lilian Odira in Sunday’s semifinal set to gun off at 2135 EAT.

Brunlehner sets new national record

Elsewhere at the Paris La Defense Arena, Kenyan swimmer Maria Brunlehner bettered her own record in the women’s 50m freestyle to set a new national record.

The 24-year-old, who was making her first appearance in the Summer Games, did that by finishing third in Heat 7, clocking a personal best time of 25.82.

Brunlehner’s previous personal best was 26.12 seconds, which she timed at the 2024 World Championships in Doha earlier this year.

On a bitter note, however, Brunlehner’s exploits were not enough to guarantee her a place in the 50m freestyle semifinals, as she finished 27th fastest, with the cut-point being the first 16 finishers.

That means that no Kenyan swimmer got through the first round, after men’s 400m freestyler Ridhwan Mohammed also suffered the same fate last week.

Brunlehner, a student at Grand Canyon University in Arizona, will, however, exit the games with her head held high.

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