UW's Liebich and Maatoug move on to Sunday's World University Games 1500m finals...

BOCHUM, Germany--Both Washington's Maggie Liebich (screenshot courtesy UW Athletics) and Amina Maatoug easily advanced to the finals of the women's 1500 meters at the FISU World University Games at the Lohrheidestadion Friday night with identical second place finishes.

In the first of two semifinals, Maatoug, who is considered one of the favorites in the event, ran comfortably behind New Zealand's Kimberley May, who was sixth at the NCAA championships in the 1500 for Providence.

May took the win in 4:17.06, with Maatoug, running for the Netherlands, finishing behind in 4:18.30.

The second semifinal was a bit quicker, with Amy Calvert of Great Britain leading the way, winning in 4:15.48.

Liebich was comfortably tucked in around fourth or fifth in a tight group, but started picking it up over the last 300 meters.

Once she broke away from the pack, she slowed down over the last 50 meters, knowing that a spot in the finals was in the bag, crossing the line in 4:16.36, just 4/100ths of a second ahead of Australia's Klara Dess, who competed for New Mexico.

Liebich's time was the second fastest of the two combined heats, while Maatoug's was the eighth fastest.

Both will run in Sunday's final at 3:00 am Pacific time (noon local time).

Saturday, Washington's Julia David-Smith of France runs in the finals of the women's 5000.

She'll contest the finals at 11:50 am Pacific (8:50 pm local time).

Streaming coverage of the FISU World University Games is available in the United States at FISU.tv (may be geoblocked in other countries).

The home page of the FISU World University Games, which encompasses several sports, is available here (click on Athletics, and the date).

NOTE: The FISU World University Games and the sports information office of the University of Washington contributed to this report.

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