Bahraini pair set to compete in Men’s 5,000m medal round at Olympics

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew and Dawit Fikadu both punched their tickets to the Men’s 5,000 metres Final yesterday at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Balew finished fifth in the first of two opening-round heats to claim his place in the medal round as an automatic qualifier. Fikadu, on the other hand, advanced following a referee’s decision after finishing out of the qualification positions in the second 5,000m heat.

Also on the track at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium yesterday, Al Siddique Mikho came up short in his bid to move through to the Men’s 1,500m Semi-Finals; while in the field, Abdelrahman Mahmoud could not go through past the Qualification round of the Men’s Shot Put. In the 5,000m, Balew finished his race with a time of 13 minutes 39.42 seconds for fifth place amongst 20 athletes. He claimed the last automatic berth from the heat and will be going for a medal in the final, which is scheduled for Friday.

Winning ahead of Balew was Nicholas Kipkorir Kimeli of Kenya in 13:38.87, while Mohammed Ahmed of Canada came second in 13:38.96. William Kincaid was third for the US in 13:39.04, and Oscar Chelimo of Uganda was just in front of Balew in 13:39.07 for fourth place.

The second 5,000m heat saw Fikadu stumble onto the track but quickly pick himself up to rejoin the pack. He could not recover enough, however, despite a brave effort as he completed the race in 14th overall with a season’s best mark of 13:44.03. Fikadu was outside of the qualifying positions but was given a place in the final following a referee’s decision.

Fikadu’s inclusion forms a 16-athlete field in the final instead of the original number of 15. Winning the heat was Mohamed Katir of Spain, ahead of Paul Chelimo of the US, Justyn Knight of Canada, and the Ugandan pair of Jacob Kiplimo and Joshua Cheptegei. Marching through as fastest losers were Milkesa Mengesha of Ethiopia, Andrew Butchart of Great Britain, Grant Fisher of the US, Jimmy Gressier of France and Luis Grijalva of Guatelama, all of whom were competing in heat two.

In the Men’s 1,500m, Mikho was running in the slowest of the three heats and he finished eighth amongst 16 runners in 3:42.87. Only the top six from each of the three heats plus the six fastest losers advanced to the semi-finals. In the Men’s Shot Put, Mahmoud registered a best throw of 20.14 metres on his second attempt, narrowly short of the 21.20m automatic qualifying mark. He had efforts of 18.95m and 19.93m in his two other throws. Mahmoud was classified 11th in Qualification Group A.