Brannon Kidder of the Brooks Beasts advances to men's 800 semifinals...

DOHA, Qatar—Brannon Kidder (left/photo by Paul Merca) of the Seattle based Brooks Beasts advanced to the semifinals in the men’s 800 meters as day 2 of the IAAF World Track & Field Championships concluded Saturday night at Khalifa International Stadium.

Running in the second of six heats, Kidder stayed off the pace, but moved late to finish fourth in a time of 1:46.29, in a heat won by Kenya’s Ngeno Kipngetich in 1:46.07.

Afterwards, he watched the other heats of the 800 while awaiting his fate, as the top three plus the six fastest time qualifiers advance to Sunday’s semifinals.

His wait was rewarded, as the Penn State alum, who has been running for several years under Beasts coach Danny Mackey, was the final time qualifier.

“Cut it close”,  he told publisher Paul Merca as he walked through the mixed zone.

In the women’s 800 semifinals, it was not a good day for former Washington State volunteer coach and University of Idaho alum Liga Velvere, as the Latvian finished eighth in 2:06.99, in a heat won by Oregon alum Raevyn Rogers of the USA.

At the time of this post, Bellevue native Katie Burnett (left/photo by Paul Merca) is approaching the 3 hour mark in the women’s 50 kilometer race walk that started at 11:30 pm, Doha time.

UPDATE: After posting, Burnett finished 17th in a time of 5:23:05, as Rui Liang of China won in 4:23:26.

Sunday, Kidder returns to run in the semifinals of the men’s 800, while former Pullman resident Katie Nageotte goes in the finals of the women’s pole vault.

Complete day 2 results of the IAAF World Track & Field Championships are available here.

NOTE:  The IAAF and USA Track & Field contributed to this report.