Noah Kibet and Dominic Kiptoo settled for the first and second places in their respective heats to earn automatic tickets to the semi-finals of the 800m at the World Under 20 Championships in Cali, Colombia.
Kibet won Heat Two in 1:51.37 ahead of Australia’s Charlie Jeffreson in 1:51.82 as USA’s Miles Brown settled for third in 1:51.82.
Algeria’s Hetthem Chenitef won Heat Five in 1:50.71 as Kiptoo came second in 1:50.96. Canadian Matthew Erickson was third in 1:50.99.
In the women's 1,500m, defending champion Purity Chepkirui and Brenda Chebet both settled for third and first place in their respective heats.
In the heat that was won by Ethiopia's Mebriht Mekonen (4:18.97), USA's Addison Wiley came second in 4:19.39 as Chepkirui placed third in 4:19.94.
In Heat Three, Chebet won by clocking 4:12.20 ahead of Turkey's Dilek Kocak in 4:14.90. Japan's Yuya Sawada placed third in 4:15.29.
