Josh Kerr and Matthew Centrowitz advance from the semis to Sunday's 1500m finals...
With the stadium nearly filled in anticipation of a possible victory in the men’s high jump by national hero Mutaz Essa Barshim (spoiler alert—he won with a 2019 world leading mark of 7-9.25/2.37m), the twelve men in heat 2 lined up with only five guaranteed to advance, and two others needing to run faster than the 3:36.98 run by Ben Blankenship of Team USATF and the Oregon TC Elite in finishing sixth in heat 1.
Ronald Kwemoi of Kenya wasn’t messing around, taking the field through the first 400 in 59.06, with Centrowitz, Kerr, and 2018-19 University of Washington volunteer coach Amos Bartelsmeyer also tucking in behind Kwemoi.
Kwemoi continued to lead through 800 (1:59.23) and 1000 (2:28.62), but behind him, folks were positioning themselves for the mad dash over the final lap.
Centrowitz got himself positioned into third as the field hit the bell, with Kerr and Bartelsmeyer about two steps behind Centrowitz.
The field opened a gap down the backstraight with over 250 to go, and Bartelsmeyer couldn’t quite respond. Meantime, Kerr covered the move, and as they came off the final turn, the Brit swung to the outside to give himself some running room, and ultimately finished fourth to assure one of the five automatic qualifiers in a time of 3:36.58, while Centrowitz finished sixth in 3:36.77 to get one of the two time qualifiers to Sunday’s final.
Bartelsmeyer, who was one of the revelations of the 2019 season after opening at the Dempsey in January with a 3:55.32 personal best in the mile, finished eleventh in the heat in a time of 3:37.74.
Afterwards, Bartelsmeyer expressed disappointment.
“I wanted to make the final, and I thought I was capable of it. Looking back, I found that I wasn’t quite with in the first half of the last lap, and got gapped a bit. Once you get a gap between the first six, you’re not making it up in the homestretch.”
“The big thing I’m taking away from this meet is that I know that I’m capable of running with these guys and I know I belong with these guys.”
Centrowitz, on the other hand, is preparing for anything to happen in Sunday’s final.
At the same time, he said he felt relieved that he lived tonight to go again in less than 48 hours after getting through as a time qualifier. He said he didn’t do himself any favors by being positioned in lanes 2 and 3 for most of the last 800.
Kerr said: “I feel like I had another gear there if I needed to be, so when I looked around and no one was gaining I had a little smile to myself. It was about making smart decisions, trusting myself and trusting my strength.”
In addition to Barshim’s win in the high jump, Team USATF’s Delilah Muhammad set her second world record of the season in winning the 400 hurdles in 52.16, with Sydney McLaughlin second in a personal best 52.23, replicating their 1-2 finish at the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships in late July in Des Moines, Iowa.
No athletes with Washington ties compete Saturday, with Centrowitz and Kerr left to run on Sunday when the meet concludes.
Saturday night’s session features finals in the men’s shot put, women’s triple jump, women’s 1500 and 5000 meters, both 4 x 100 relays, and the men’s marathon.
Complete day 8 results of the IAAF World Track & Field Championships are available here.
NOTE: The IAAF, British Athletics and USA Track & Field contributed to this report.
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