Brooks Beast Josh Kerr advances to men's Olympic 1500 final and showdown with Jakob Ingebrigtsen...

SAINT-DENIS, France--Josh Kerr (photo courtesy British Athletics) of the Brooks Beasts advanced to Tuesday night's finals in the men's 1500 and a showdown with Norway's defending Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen with a second place finish in the first of two semifinal heats at the Olympic track and field competition at the Stade de France Sunday night.

Kerr, the Brit who has run professionally for the Beasts since the fall of 2018 and trains in Seattle, and Ingebrigtsen went to the front, going through the first 400 in a modest 61 seconds.  

Ingebrigtsen cranked up the pace, going through the 800 in 1:57.4, but Kerr maintained his position a few steps behind in 1:57.7

In a reversal of what happened when the two raced against each other at the Nike Prefontaine Classic in Eugene in May, Ingebrigtsen dropped a 55 second third lap, but Kerr, a native on Edinburgh, Scotland was content to stay a step behind.

Behind Kerr, the field started their charge to the front, but neither Ingebrigtsen nor Kerr were threatened, as they finished 1-2 in 3:32.38 and 3:32.46. Both eased up in the last 40 meters, but stayed on their line to protect themselves from one of the runners from sneaking inside.

After his race, Kerr said, "Fans should expect the most competitive 1500m the sport has seen in a long time. There's been a lot of talking words over the last few years. I'm looking to settle that on Tuesday and give it my best performance."

Fifteen minutes earlier, Kerr's Brooks Beast teammate Nia Akins of the USA was third in heat 3 of the women's 800, running 1:58.20 in a race where the top two automatically moved on to Monday night's final.

Akins, the two time US national champion, was in the middle of the pack at the 400 meter mark at 57.9, then made her charge over the last 300 meters.

South Africa's Prudence Sekgodiso, who was with Akins at the 400, moved to the front of the chase pack, challenging current world leader Keely Hodgkinson as the field went down the backstretch.

Hodgkinson easily won the heat in 1:56.86, with Sekgodiso second in 1:57.57, and Akins third in 1:58.20. Akins appeared to move well over the last 100 meters, but had too much real estate to make up.

The two time qualifiers came out of heat 2, as Stanford's Juliette Whittaker (1:57.76) and France's Jenelle Lamote (1:57.78) in third and fourth were the two fastest out of the three heats not placing in the top two.

In the semifinals of the men's 100 meters, Louie Hinchliffe of Great Britain finished third in the first semifinal of the men's 100, as he ran 9.97 behind Jamaica's Oblique Seville, who won the heat in a personal best 9.81, and the USA's Noah Lyles.

The former Washington State standout did not get a good start and found himself in a deeper hole against better competition. He made his usual late charge, but it wasn't enough to claim one of the two automatic spots into the finals.

"It was a good experience, not the result I wanted. But it's definitely one I can learn from," Hinchliffe said.

Hinchliffe, who currently competes for the University of Houston, now turns his attention to the men's 4 x 100 meter relay prelims on Thursday.

In Sunday morning action, Washington alum Gianna Woodruff finished fifth in the second of five heats of the 400 hurdles, running a season best of 54.94. The top three automatically advanced to the semifinals on Tuesday, plus three time qualifiers.

Woodruff will run in Monday's repechage in heat 2 of 3, where only the top two will advance to Tuesday's semifinals.  Her race goes at 1:58 am Pacific/10:58 am Paris time.

Pasco native Marisa Howard (photo courtesy Boise State Athletics) finished seventh in her heat of the women's 3000 meter steeplechase.

Howard, who made her way onto the team by finishing third at the US Olympic trials, ran 9:24.78. 

She was in contention for one of the five spots for Tuesday's finals through the first 2000 meters, but could not stay with the lead group over the last two-plus laps.

With Hinchliffe not qualifying for the 100 finals, Noah Lyles of Team USA won the Olympic title in a photo finish with Jamaica's Kishane Thompson, with both credited with identical 9.79 times (9.784 to 9.789 in favor of Lyles).

2022 world champion Fred Kerley of the USA was third in 9.81, as seven of the eight finalists ran under 9.90.

In other finals Sunday night, Canada's Ethan Katzberg of Nanaimo, British Columbia, the reigning world champion, added the Olympic title to his resume, throwing 276-0 (84.12m).

Bence Halasz of Hungary was second at 262-4 (79.97m), and Mykhaylo Kokhan of Ukraine was third at 260-5 (79.39m).

The other final Sunday night saw world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine win the women's high jump on fewer misses, as both cleared 6-6-.75 (2.00m).

Iryna Gerashchenko of Ukraine and Eleanor Patterson of Australia shared third place with a best of 6-4.75 (1.95m).

WHAT'S HAPPENING MONDAY...

On Monday, Washington State alum CJ Allen begins his Olympic quest in heat 3 of 5 in the mens 400 hurdles at 1:21 am Pacific/10:21 am Paris time. 

The top three from each of the five heats plus three time qualifiers will advance to Wednesday's semifinals.

Former Pullman resident and reigning Olympic champion Katie Moon begins her defense of her title in the women's pole vault at 1:40 am Pacific/10:40 am Paris time.

Moon, who has struggled most of the season with an Achilles tendon issue, looks to earn one of the 12 spots to advance to Wednesday night's final with minimal effort, so as not to put any undue pressure on her body.

US Olympic trials champ Kenneth Rooks of College Place, just outside of Walla Walla, makes his Olympic debut in heat 3 of the 3000 steeplechase at 10:36 am Pacific/7:36 pm Paris time, where he'll need to finish in the top five to advance to the finals on Wednesday night.

The start lists and results for the Olympic track and field competition is available on the World Athletics microsite, which is available here.

In the United States, streaming is available on the NBCOlympics.com site or Peacocktv.com ($).

Monday's session will also be shown live on E! at 1 am Pacific, while the evening session will be broadcast on NBC starting at 10 am Pacific, and on NBC/KING5 in Seattle (check local listings for times of the NBC network broadcasts).

In Canada, Olympic action will be shown on CBC and streamed on CBC.ca.

NOTE: World Athletics, British Athletics, and the sports information offices of the University of Houston and Boise State University contributed to this report.

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