Gun Australian duo Linden Hall and Jessica Hull have eased into the Olympic 1500m semi-finals with a minimum of fuss, while Dutch superwoman Sifan Hassan was made to work much harder.
Hassan, who is chasing an unprecedented 1500-5000-10,000m treble in Tokyo, was knocked to the track with one lap to run in the second heat on Monday morning.
But rather than panicking, Hassan quickly got back to her feet before mowing down the field in the concluding 400 metres.
Australian record holder Hall was rewarded for a brave display of front-running by cruising through third in a slick time of four minutes 02.27 seconds in the quickest heat won by defending Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon from Kenya.
“It’s so nice just to get that done,” said Hall, who also made the semis on her Olympic debut in Rio five years ago.
“It’s been a big build-up.
“Watching the other guys over the last few days has been exciting but stressful.
“I just wanted to play it safe and stay out of trouble after seeing some tripping (of Hassan) in the heat before.”
Having decided to target the 1500m rather than the 5000m in Tokyo, the US-based Hull (4:05.28) was also untroubled in advancing to the semis on Wednesday evening.
“Definitely you want to do one (event) and do it well,” Australian 5000m record holder Hull told the Seven Network.
“At this point in my career, the 1500 is where I’m most confident.
“I’ve raced it the most times, I know how to navigate the tactics a bit better.
“And it’s pretty brutal conditions for a 5K here, so choosing the 1500, when my coach decided a couple of weeks ago, I was all in.”
Georgia Griffith finished second-last in the opening heat with a time of 4:14.43.
AAP
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