World Championships: Mary Moraa advances to 800m semis
Kenya's Mary Moraa crosses the finish line ahead of Canada's Jazz Shukla and Slovakia's Gabriela Gajanova in the women's 800m heats during the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on August 23, 2023.
What you need to know:
- World champion Athing Mu from the United States of America jogged home in 1:59.59 to claim the seventh heat as compatriot Nia Akins ran the fastest time in the preliminaries, winning the fifth heat in 1:59.19.
- The semi-finals will be staged on Friday.
Commonwealth Games 800metres champion Mary Moraa is the only Kenyan to qualify for the semi-finals of the women’s 800m at the ongoing World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
This is after the world mixed 2x2x400m relay silver medallist Naomi Korir and Vivian Chebet failed to go through their heats.
The other Kenyan representative, Africa under-20 800m silver medallist Peninah Mutisya, failed to start owing to a technicality.
Moraa, the world 800m bronze medallist, controlled the race from the front, hitting the half-way mark in 58.61 seconds before putting away the second heat in 1:59.89 as American Raevyn Rogers clocked 2:00.06 for second place.
Chebet finished fourth in 2:01.26 to miss out on automatic qualification in the first heat where World 800m silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson from Great Britain won in 1:59.53. South Africa’s Prudence Sekgodiso came second in 1:59.72.
World champion Athing Mu from the United States of America jogged home in 1:59.59 to claim the seventh heat as compatriot Nia Akins ran the fastest time in the preliminaries, winning the fifth heat in 1:59.19.
The semi-finals will be staged on Friday.
