Baala burns them off in 1500m heats
Mehdi Baala looks in form to turn his 2003 world 1500m silver medal into gold here in Helsinki. The Frenchman who finished second to Hiucham El Guerrouj in Paris was the fastest qualifier for the semi-finals on Monday evening, burning off his rivals in the first heat to clock the fastest time of the round, 3:36.56.
Baala benefited from the fast pace set by USA’s Alan Webb who hit the bell in 2:41.01. Baala took the lead 300m out and kicked ahead with ease, opening a gap of 10 metres as he entered the home straight and cruising through to the finish clear of the scramble for places behind him.
Bahrain’s Rashid Ramzi will also be a strong contender for medals, although he may have to learn to run in a straight line before Wednesday’s final.
The 25-year-old, who has the fastest time in the world this year, produced a devastating kick to win the third heat in 3:38.32. He burst to the front 200m from home and swept down the finishing straight, veering across the track as he did so before crossing the line in lane seven and heading immediately up the steps and out of the stadium through the mixed zone.
Behind Ramzi five other men also ran under 3:40 meaning that Kenya’s Daniel Kipchirchir Komen, who was sixth in heat two in 3:41.91, does not go through. Komen, who won at the Golden League meeting in Paris earlier this year and is only a second slower than Ramzi on the world list, paid the price for allowing the pace to slow.
Despite entering the home straight in second place, he was caught by the charge for five automatic qualifying places over the closing metres. The race was won by Spain’s Arturo Casado in 3:41.64 while Komen finished sixth and failed to go through by three hundredths of a second.
In heat one, Webb was unlucky to miss out on one of the five automatic qualifying places, clocking the same time as Britain’s Michael East, 3:36.64, but that was easily quick enough for one of the nine fastest qualifying places.
