Josh Kerr and Sam Tanner advance to Sunday's semifinals in men's 1500 at worlds...

BUDAPEST, Hungary--Josh Kerr (Paul Merca photo) of the Brooks Beasts and Great Britain along with former Husky Sam Tanner of New Zealand both advanced to Sunday's second round of the men's 1500 to highlight competition in the evening session of the World Athletics Track & Field Championships Saturday night at the National Athletics Centre.

In the first of four first round heats, Kerr ran a controlled race, staying in fourth or fifth through the first 800, before going after Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway.

In the end, both were comfortably inside the top six, with Ingebrigtsen winning in 3:33.94, and Kerr in 3:34.00.

Sam Tanner (in black) & Joe Waskom
Paul Merca photo

In the second heat, which turned out to be the slowest of the four, Tanner and Waskom found themselves near the front of the pack which crawled through the 400 in 65 seconds.

The pace picked up marginally, with Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya taking them to 800 in 2:12.01, then the pace picked up with the field going through 1200 in 3:07.28, with Waskom suddenly finding himself in tenth after being in the sixth position with a lap to go. 

Tanner was next to last at the bell, but fought his way into position as the pack entered the home stretch.

Waskom, who was pinned on the inside, appeared to have a gap open but could not take advantage as it closed quickly.

Tanner finished fourth in 3:46.93, while Waskom was eighth in 3:47.26. Mario Garcia Romo of Spain won the heat in 3:46.77.

In the third heat, recent Washington grad Kieran Lumb of Canada finished eighth in 3:36.66.

Kerr and Tanner will run in Sunday's semifinal races at 5:35 pm local time (8:35 am Pacific time) with the opportunity to advance to the finals on Wednesday.

Washington State alum CJ Allen is the only other athlete with Washington ties competing Sunday, as he runs in the first round of the men's 400 hurdles at 11:25 am local time (2:25 am Pacific).

Sunday's television schedule has the meet on CNBC from 12:30 am to 5:00 am Pacific. It resumes on CNBC from 7:30 am to 9 am on CNBC, then NBC picks up the final four hours from 9 am to 1 pm, Pacific.

Complete results from the first full day of competition is available here.

NOTE: World Athletics, the WABudapest 23 Organizing Committee, and the federations of Canada, Great Britain & Northern Ireland, Ireland, New Zealand, and USA Track & Field contributed to this report.

paulmerca.blogspot.com may receive a commission for any purchases made from links clicked. Please support this site and our sponsors by clicking on the links. You can also support the site by clicking the yellow "Buy Me A Coffee" link below.