Centrowitz, Bartelsmeyer & Kerr all advance to 1500m semis at world champs...

DOHA, Qatar—All three athletes with Washington ties advanced to Friday’s semifinals in the men’s 1500 meters as day 7 at the IAAF World Track & Field Championships at Khalifa International Stadium concluded Thursday night.

In what literally was a blanket finish, 2018-19 University of Washington volunteer coaches Matthew Centrowitz of the USA and Amos Bartelsmeyer of Germany (above/photo by Paul Merca) finished third and sixth, respectively in heat 1 of 3 won by Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen in 3:37.67.

Centrowitz and Bartelsmeyer stayed near the front of the pack and maintained contact with the leaders throughout the race, with Bartelsmeyer content to tuck behind the defending Olympic champion in the same way a running back follows his lead blocker.

With 100 meters to go, there were seven runners bidding for six automatic qualifying spots for Friday’s semifinal race (top six in each of the three heats, plus six time qualifiers).

As Ingebrigtsen crossed the line in 3:37.67, Centrowitz took third, 2/100ths behind Ingebrigtsen, while Bartelsmeyer, the German national champ, got the final auto qualifier in 3:37.80.

“My strategy today was to never get out of the top six,” Centrowitz said to reporters in the mixed zone.”

“Being that you’re in the next heat, you have no idea what’s going to happen.”

In the second heat, Josh Kerr of Great Britain (above/photo by Paul Merca) and the Seattle based Brooks Beasts was an easy second behind defending world champ Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya, running 3:36.99 to Cheruiyot’s 3:36.82.

“You got to make sure that you’re running with your head up,” Kerr said in the mixed zone afterwards.

When asked about his finishing speed, and specifically over the last 100 meters, Kerr said, “I feel like I’ve got some great finishing speed, and I’ve got to trust that over the next rounds.”

He said that he had been training under Beasts coach Danny Mackey at altitude in the buildup to the world championships, specifically in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he was an undergraduate at the University of New Mexico. During the buildup, he said that several of his Brooks Beasts teammates helped him out by serving as training partners.

All three are back in action Friday night in the semifinals, as by sheer coincidence, all are in the second of two semifinal heats at 8:20 pm local time (10:20 am in Seattle), with the top five places advancing to Sunday night’s final, and only two additional time qualifiers.

They are the only three athletes with Washington ties remaining in the meet, which concludes Sunday.

Complete day 7 results of the IAAF World Track & Field Championships are available here.

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