Leonel Manzano doesn’t make finals in 1,500 meters at World Championships
DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR
MOSCOW — Only one American advanced to the 1,500-meter finals in the International Association of Athletics Federations Track and Field World Championships.
His name is Matthew Centrowitz.
Former Marble Falls High School middle-distance runner and Olympic silver medalist Leonel Manzano did not advance to the finals during the semifinal round Aug. 16. Manzano finished eighth in his heat with a time of 3 minutes and 44 seconds.
Asbel Kiprop won the first heat, which included Manzano and USA teammate Lopez Lomong. The Kenyan won the heat in 3:43.3 with fellow countryman Silas Kiplagat finishing in second just two hundredths of a second behind first place.
The top five finishers in the two heats immediately advanced with the next two fastest times also advancing. At the end of the first heat, Lomong found himself in the hot seat as he finished in sixth place with a time of 3:43.79.
The American had to sit and wait for the second heat to finish to find out if he would be running in the finals Aug. 18.
But the second heat proved to be a much faster race as the next two fastest finishers came from that one, leaving Lomong out of the finals.
Centrowitz, however, finished second in the heat in a time of 3:35.95, just behind Kenyan’s Nixon Kiplimo Chepseba who ran the 1,500 meters in 3:35.88.
daniel@thepicayune.com