Bouabdellah Tahri of France, winner of the first 3000m steeplechase heat (© Getty Images)
Now the heats of the men's 3000m Steeplechase are supposed to be predictable with the Kenyans demonstrating their unquestioned pedigree in the event, right?
Well, not quite, as a slightly bizarre heat two would demonstrate.
Within a lap and a half of the heat something quite unsual was going on. US champion Anthony Famiglietti burst into the lead and held a 20m advantage.
Then, we cast our eyes back, a long way back, to where Ezekiel Kemboi, the Olympic champion from Kenya, was happy to jog 20m adrift of the main pack.Strange, to say the least.
Famiglietti stretched his advantage to 40m with three laps remaining from the pursuing pack led by Sweden's Mustafa Mohamed.
Meanwhile, Kemboi, who is bidding to become the first man since Finland's Volmari Iso-Hollo in the 1930s to win back-to-back Olympic titles had woken from his slumber and joined the main pack.
The American's lead was cut to just 10m as he hit the bell and with the chasing pack closing you feared the worst for the brave Famiglietti.
However, while Ethiopia's Yakob Jarso swept into the lead and took the heat win in a new personal best of 8:16.88 - 0.07 ahead of France's Mahiedine Mekhissi-B, Famiglietti stubbornly held on to take the third automatic qualifying position in a new PB of 8:17.34.
Kemboi, meanwhile, looked short of his best. He had to work hard down the finishing straight to secure the fourth and final automatic spot in 8:17.55 raising one or two question marks in his ability to prosper in Monday's final.
The heat also served up the three fastest losers with Mohamed (8:17.55), Youcef Abdi of Australia (8.17.80) and Ion Luchianov setting a Moldovan record in 8:18.97 in seventh all booking a final place.
In heat one the major players all cruised through to round two.
France's experienced Boubadellah Tahri and Kenyan born Bahraini Tareq Mubarek Taher shared a healthy pace at the head of the field for much of the race with world champion Brimin Kipruto preferring to hang back in fifth of sixth place.
Tahri took the heat win in 8:16.88 from Kipruto, who briefly caused alarm when he stumbled at the final water jump when a few metres adrift of the fourth placed athlete. Nonetheless, he recovered to finish strongly to finish second in 8:23.53.
Morocco's Abdelkader Hachlaf (8:23.62) and Taher (8:23.66) crossed the line third and fourth, respectively, to book their place in the final.
In heat three South Africa's Ruben Ramolefi was rewarded for a resourceful front running display to take victory in a personal best of 8:19.86.
The 2007 World bronze medallist Richard Mateeling, the least experienced of the Kenyan trio, comfortably qualified second just 0.01 behind. The other two automatic qualifiers were Uganda's World Junior silver medallist Benjamin Kiplagat (8:20.22) ahead of Abubaker Ali Kamal of Qatar (8:21.85).
