There was no hanging around in the first round, as 15 men qualified with sub 1min 46sec times for Friday’s semi-finals.
 
The most impressive qualifier was Youssef Saad Kamel of Bahrain, who is bidding to emulate his father, Billy Konchellah, who won this title twice for Kenya in 1987 and 1991. Kamel, formerly Gregory Konchellah, has the same high stepping, silky smooth action as his father and triumphed comfortably in the sixth and final heat in 1:45.25 to head the qualifiers.

Amine Laalou crossed the line first in a tidy 1:46.00 to take heat one. The Moroccan record-holder tracked Sajad Moradi of Iran at halfway (51.27), before he kicked past the long-time leader entering the home straight and coasted to the heat win. US indoor champion Nick Symmonds edged the sprint for second in 1:46.16. Moradi faded to sixth and was eliminated.

It was also a formality for world No5 Gary Reed in heat two. The Canadian record-holder eased through in the identical winning time of 1:46.00 as the opening heat. Algeria’s Nabil Madi was just 0.02 further back, although Justus Koech, of Kenya, was forced to work hard down the home straight before prevailing in his battle with past World Cup winner Antonio Manuel Reina of Spain for the third automatic spot.

Defending champion Rashid Ramzi suffered a momentary scare before sealing his place in the semi-finals in heat three. The Bahrain athlete, who landed the silver medal in the 1500m final last night, was fifth and boxed in coming into the final stretch. But he managed to find much needed space, running in lane two, and with a strong spurt grabbed second in 1:45.56. World No1 Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, of South Africa, ran a controlled race to win in 1:45.56 – aided by a swift last lap of 53.52.

Kenyan Alfred Kirwa Yego produced a great turn of speed to take heat four in a season’s best 1:45.52. Five men dipped below 1:46 and all five progressed to the semi-finals, although third place finisher Dmitriys Milkevics unceremoniously barged Spain’s Manuel Olemedo, fifth, in the latter stages.

A loaded heat five saw Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Al Salhi take an eye-catching victory in 1:45.58. Al Salhi, the Asian champion and Rome Golden League winner, ghosted past Olympic champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy and World Indoor champion Wilfred Bungei with the confidence of a man who knows he could make a serious impact in the later rounds. Borzakovskiy took second in the same time as Bungei, 1:45.79 – although the Russian looked as if he was working a little harder than he would have wished.

Osaka 2007 News Team/sl