Kenyan trio Timothy Cheruiyot, Brian Komen, and Reynold Cheruiyot Kipkorir eased into the men’s 1,500m semis on Friday as the track and field events kicked off at the Paris Olympics.
Cheruiyot, the 2019 World Champion and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medallist, shook off stiff competition to finish 5th in the 2nd heat in 3:35.39.
Ermias Girma of Ethiopia won the heat in 3:35.21, 0.006 seconds ahead of American Cole Hocker, who finished second.
Dutch Steffan Nillesen won the heat, crossing the finish line in a time of 3 minutes, 36.77 seconds.
Unlike in the previous editions, all athletes who finished beyond the 6th position in each heat will go through a repechage round tomorrow for a chance in Sunday’s semi-final.
