Women's 800m - First Round

The opening round witnessed two major casualties as the fastest two in the field the Russian pair – Natalya Ignatova and Marija Savinova - tamely exited the competition.

Ignatova, the fastest woman in the field this year with 1:58.84, trailed home a despondent fifth and last in heat one and to add insult to injury she was then disqualified for running out of her lane.

The heat win went to diminutive Italian Elisa Cusma in 2:01.62 ahead of Australian Tamsyn Lewis (2:01.62).

Savinova, who ran 1.59.46 to finish third at the Russian Championships, was similarly disappointing, trailing home a distant fourth in heat three behind heat winner Seltana Ait Hammou of Morocco. For the record Savinova recorded 2:06.72 having faded badly on the final lap. Hammou held on to win by 0.02 in 2:04.69 from Ewelina Setowska-Dryk of Poland.

In heat two, seven-time gold medallist Maria Mutola and Spain’s Mayte Martinez cruised into the semi-finals. American Nicole Cook went through halfway in a pedestrian 1.06.38 and although Namibia’s Agnes Samaria challenged the big two on the final lap Mutola sprinted clear around the final bend to stop the clock in 2:04.82 ahead of Martinez (2:04.92).

Tetiana Petlyuk of Ukraine was rewarded by a bold front-running performance to take victory in heat four in 2:00.40 to head the qualifiers into tomorrow’s semi-finals. Petlyuk went through the bell in 58.83 and held off a late challenge from Great Britain’s Jenny Meadows (2:00.60). Third placed Mihaela Neascu of Romania (2:00.79) and Nicole Teter of the USA in fourth (2:01.73) also advanced to the semi-finals.

Steve Landells for the IAAF

ENDS