Brooks Beasts' Marta Pen Freitas tenth in her 1500m semi at the Olympics...
TOKYO--Marta Pen Freitas (photo courtesy Brooks Running) of Seattle's Brooks Beasts saw her quest to run in the finals of the 1500 meters end with a tenth place finish in the second of two semifinal heats Wednesday evening at Tokyo's Olympic Stadium.
Pen Freitas, the Mississippi State alum and Portuguese national champion who was tenth in her first round heat Monday morning, was added to the field for the semis when she was impeded by Morocco's Rababe Arafi with 200 meters to go.
She found herself in the middle of the pack for the duration of the race and could never unwind for the final sprint until it was too late.
Pen Freitas, a two-time Portuguese Olympian, finished with a season best time of 4:04.15, which is her fastest time since 2018, when she ran her personal best of 4:03.99. Her mark is under the automatic qualifying standard for next year's world championships in Eugene.
Former Nike Oregon Project runner Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, already the winner of the 5000 meters, won the heat in 4:00.23, as she goes for an unprecedented triple in the 1500, 5000 and 10000 at these Olympics.
Four finals were contested Wednesday night in the women's 3000 steeplechase, men's hammer, men's 800, and men's 200.
American Courtney Frerichs of the Portland-based Nike Bowerman Track Club took the lead in the steeplechase with three laps to go, but was caught with less than 200 meters to go by Uganda's Peruth Chemutai, who won in a national record 9:01.45 to Frerichs' 9:04.79.
Hyvin Kiyeng of Kenya was third in 9:05.39.
The men's hammer saw a pair of Poles on the podium, as Wojciech Nowicki won with a throw of 270-9 (82.52m), while Pawel Fajdek was third at 267-6 (81.53). Elvind Henriksen of Norway split the Polis duo in second with a national record 267-8 (81.58m).
Kenya's Emmanuel Korir won the men's 800 in 1:45.06, with fellow Kenyan Ferguson Rotich second in 1:45.23, and Poland's Patryk Dobek third in 1:45.39.
In the final event of the evening, Canada's Andre DeGrasse won the 200 meters in a national record 19.62, with Americans Kenny Bednarek second in a personal best 19.68 and reigning world champion Noah Lyles third in 19.74.
Thursday morning at 11:55 am Tokyo time/7:55 pm Wednesday night Seattle time, former Renton resident Devon Allen will run in the finals of the men's 110 hurdles, as he looks to improve upon his fifth place finish in Rio.
Thursday night's session will see former Pullman resident and 2018-19 Washington State volunteer coach Katie Nageotte compete in the women's pole vault at 7:20 pm Tokyo time/3:20 am Seattle time, as she contends for a medal.
Finally, Josh Kerr of Great Britain and Seattle's Brooks Beasts, along with defending Olympic champion and 2018-19 University of Washington volunteer coach Matthew Centrowitz, will run in the second heat of the men's 1500 meter semifinals at 8:10 pm local time/4:10 am Seattle time, as they look to advance to Saturday night's finals.
Results and start lists are available through the home page of the World Athletics Tokyo Olympics microsite.
NOTE: The Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee, USA Track & Field, & World Athletics contributed to this report.
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