Kipyegon, Chepchirchir, and Ejore through to women's 1500m semifinals

Double Olympic 1500 metres champion Faith Kipyegon is through to the semifnals of her specialist event at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games after finishing fourth in Heat Two with a time 4:00.74, doing just the bare minimum needed to progress to the next stage after racing in yesterday's women's 5000 metres final in which she won the silver medal.

Her compatriots, Susan Ejore and Nelly Chepchirchir also made it to the semifinals without breaking too much at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Paris, on Tuesday morning, finishing 3rd and 1st with times of 3:59.01 and 4:02.67 in Heat One and Heat Two respectively.

Their results marked a perfect start to the day for Team Kenya following medals wins by Beatrice Chebet (gold, women's 5 000 metres), Faith Kipyegon (silver, women's 5 000 metres), and Mary Moraa (bronze, women's 800 metres) on Monday night.

Speaking after the race, Kipyegon expressed satisfaction with her performance despite nursing fatigue.

"Of course, I feel a little bit tired but I am in good shape," Kipyegon said.

Kipyegon also showed that she had quickly moved from yesterday's women's 5000 metres final in which she was initially disqualified following her tussle with the Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay before later being reinstated to the podium.

"Yesterday's race had a lot of pushing but that is sports and it is behind me now. My focus is now on the 1500 metres," Kipyegon said before dismissing claims that she was disappointed at not winning on Monday night.

"The 5000 metres is a new race for me and I am happy with how I performed," Kipyegon said before adding, "I thank Kenyans for their support and prayers," in reference to the messages of support she received from Kenyans after she was disqualified.

Ejore was the first to qualify and finishing within the top six positions in Heat One, which was the fastest of the three heat races in the event as six athletes ran below 4:00.

The Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay, eager to bounce back from finishing in a disappointing 9th place in Monday's 1500 metres, did not take chances in Heat One, winning it with a time of 3:58.84.

Laura Muir of the Great Britain was second, clocking 3:58.91, with the Kenyan Ejore finishing ten hundredths of a second behind her in third place.

Georgia Griffith of Australia (3:59.22), Agathe Guillemot of France (3:59.22), and Emily Mackay of the USA (3:59.63) finished fourth, fifth, and sixth respectively to clinch the remaining automatic qualification slots.

Runners who finished seventh and below in each heat will have to contest races in the repechage round to clinch the remaining six semifinal slots.

Despite finishing 10th in Heat One with a time of 4:04.28, Nozomi Tanaka of Japan will be exempted of running in the repechage round after she was allowed to advance to the semifinal by a referee's decision.

In Heat Two, coming a little more than 12 hours from winning silver in the women's 5 000 metres, the event's world and Olympic record holder Faith Kipyegon took it easy in her heat. She started the race running from the back and progressively made her way to forward before finishing fourth with a time of 4:00.74, saving her best efforts for the remaining phases of the event.

Diribe Welteji of Ethiopia, 3:59.73, was first. Georgia Bell of Great Britain, 4:00.29, and Nikki Hiltz of the USA, 4:00.42, followed in 2nd and 3rd place respectively.

Weronika Lizakowska (Poland) finished fifth with a personal best time of 4:01.54. Sixth place went to Maia Ramsden of New Zealand, 4:02.83.

Nelly Chepchirchir put her best forward in Heat Three, winning the race with a time of 4:02.67, the slowest of the winning times.

Chepchirchir was in contention to finish in the top six throughout the race but after the bell, she was almost pushed out of the automatic qualification positions as she boxed in the inside lane. However, she managed to find a way to wiggle out of that trap to lead the race in the final two hundred and finish in first place.

Jessica Hull of Great Britain (2nd, 4:02.70), Elle St. Pierre of the US (3rd, 4:03.22), Klaudia Kazimierska of Poland (4th, 4:04.49), Salomé Afonso of Portugal (5th, 4:04.42, personal best), and Marta Pérez (6th, 4:04.94) also qualified automatically.