Kerr and Tanner easily advance through round 1 of men's 1500 at Oregon22...
EUGENE--Josh Kerr (Paul Merca photo), the Olympic bronze medalist in the 1500 meters from Great Britain and the Seattle based Brooks Beasts, and former Husky Sam Tanner from New Zealand, advanced to the semifinals of the men's 1500 as day 2 of the World Athletics Outdoor Championships concluded Saturday night at Historic Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon.
Running in the third of three first round heats, Kerr took to the front with 600 meters to go, and held it the rest of the way.
Tanner, who probably learned a tough lesson from the first round of last year's Olympics where he got bumped around and eliminated in the first round, made sure that he was in proper position to get one of the six spots for Sunday's semifinals, running 3:39.33, while Kerr took the victory easily in 3:38.94.
In the previous heat, former University of Oregon All-American Johnny Gregorek of Team USA, who is being coached remotely by Washington head coach Andy Powell while attending grad school on the East Coast, ran 3:35.65 to finish sixth and move on to Sunday's semifinals.
In the morning session, Federal Way native and two time Cape Verde Olympian Jordin Andrade gamely tried to run in the first heat of the men's 400 hurdles despite a meniscus tear on his left knee.
Andrade, who was Cape Verde's lone competitor in the meet, ran to the second hurdle before stopping.
Former Renton resident and University of Oregon standout Devon Allen won his first round heat of the 110 hurdles, cruising in 13.47 and made it look easy, as the Philadelphia Eagle wide receiver and kick returner wagged his tongue as he cleared the final hurdle.
Here's a summary in photos of day 2 via our Instagram page:
Allen will run in one of the three semifinal heats Sunday at 5:05 pm, where he will need to finish in the top two to guarantee himself a spot in the finals at 7:30 pm.
Former Pullman resident Katie Nageotte looks to add a world championship to her Olympic gold medal in the women's pole vault at 5:25 pm, though the road to the world title goes directly through her training partner and world indoor champ Sandi Morris.
At 7:00 pm, Josh Kerr, Sam Tanner, and Johnny Gregorek will run in the semifinals of the men's 1500 meters. A top five finish in each of the two heats guarantees a spot in the finals on Tuesday night.
Action Sunday gets underway at 6:15 am with the men's marathon over a 3-loop course that starts and finishes in front of Autzen Stadium and crosses the city of Springfield.
There is a morning session Sunday at Hayward that starts at 10:35 with the heptathlon hurdles, and the finals in the women's hammer and men's 10000.
NOTE: World Athletics and the Oregon22 organizing committee contributed to this report.
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