It was all downhill after the second throw of the competition. The World record holder Osleidys Menendez of Cuba qualified automatically with a 64.91 first round release.
With eight automatic qualifiers from the first group, Britain’s Goldie Sayers will need probably need to hit 61.00 to make the final.
Sixteen jumpers were able to mett the the automatic qualifying height of 5.70 to qualify for Friday’s final. Britain’s Nick Buckfield is now one of them.
Guenther Weidlinger of Austria, took the early lead in the first semi-final, with Ukraine’s Sergiy Lebid behind him, and the Morrocan 1500m champion Hicham El Guerrouj third and Ethiopian 10,000m champion Kenenisa Bekele fourth. Weidlinger led them through 1k in 2:41.86, and then he, Lebid and Switzerland’s Christian Belz took their turns in front. Kenya’s Abraham Chebii was now tracking El Guerrouj and Bekele, with another Ethiopian, Gebre Gebremariam, and Australia’s Craig Mottram also well positioned.
Weidlinger took them through 2k in 5:22.21 and 3k in 8:07.42. Chebii took them through 4k in 10:53.34 but the pace didn’t really increase until, with 600 to go, Bekele made his move. He lead at the bell, followed by El Guerrouj, Gebremariam, Mottram and Chebii, who had now moved clear of the rest of the field to claim the five automatic qualifying places.
Bekele was first, in 13:21.16, followed by Gebremariam (13:21.20), and El Guerrouj,(13:21.87).
The second semi-final was inevitably quicker. Ireland’s Mark Carroll took the early lead, setting a brisk pace with Kenyan World Champion Eliud Kipchoge in second. Ethiopia’s Dejene Berhanu and 10,000m bronze medallist Zersenay Tadesse of Eritrea were also in contention.
This group foot the field through the 2k mark in 5:24.90, but then the pace then slowed, behind that set in the first heat. Norway’s Marius Bakken took up the running, with USA’s Tim Broe.
Broe picked up the pace again with just over 1000m to go. He led through 4k in 10:52.69, while Kipchoge shadowed his every move. With 700m left the World champion hit the front, with Broe, Berhanu and Algeria’s Ali Saidi Sief next.
Sief crossed the line in 13:18.94, with Kipchoge just 13:19.01 next. Berhanu, Kenya’s John Kibowen and Morocco’s Abderrahim Goumri took the other automatic places, but Broe and Tadesse made the final as fastest losers.
Britain’s Goldie Sayers is first up but her throw of 59.11 is short of the automatic qualification mark.
Longest throw of the first round is 64.39 from the Czech, Nikola Brejchová. She is the third competitor to make the automatic qualifying mark, but amazingly the last. With one place remaining in the final the remaining participants fail with their remaining attempts.
It was fast times and tight races with only the top two from each of the heats guaranteed entry into the semi-finals.
In heat one, the South African Mbulaeni Mulaudzimaking made a decisive move heading into the final straight. First passing German Michael Rotich then catching Rene Herms, the South African reached the line for a 1:45.72 win. The German was second in 1:45.83.
In the second heat, Kenyan Joseph Mutua led the field through the bell and hung on to win in 1:45.65. Briton Ricky Soos, third after 400 metres, snuck by reigning World champion Djabir Said Guerni to finish second and automatically advance.
In the third heat, Brazilian Osmar dos Santos took the early lead, leading the field through the midway point in 50.93. American, Jonathan Johnson, took to the front just past the bell with Wilson Kipketer (the World record holding Kenyan, running for Denmark) striking with just under 200 metres to go, winning in 1:44.69. Johnson held on for second (1:45.31), holding off Jean Patrick Nduwimana (1:45:38) of Burundi and Dos Santos (1:45.90).
Tanzanian Mwera Samwel fought for the early lead in heat four, before World leader Wilfred Bungei () took over for good just before the bell. Sudan’s Ismail Ahmed Ismail tailed closely, and finished second in 1:45.17.
After sitting well back for most of the race, Russias Yuriy Borzakovskiy took the lead heading in to the homestraight to win heat five. The Russian clocked 1:46.20, just ahead of Ethiopian Berhanu Alemu (1:46.26).
Heat six was very tight, Iranian Sadjad Moradi lead the field into the last lap, with Moroccan Amine Laloou and American Khadevis Robinson just behind. The lead interchanged between all three before Ivan Heskho (), slipped through on the inside to finish second to the Moroccan, 1:45.88 to 1:45.92.
Heat Seven was tight, but slow, lorent Lacasse of France, lead until the final 50 metres, but Dmitrijs Milkevics (Latvia) and Antonio Manuel Reina (Spain) tied for the win in 1:46.66.
South African Andre Bucher and Hezekiel Sepeng () took command of things in heat eight, with Italian Andrea Longo and Spainard Manuel Olmedo trailing single file. The South African assumed the lead at the bell, with Longo moving with him. Olmedo jumped to a brief lead with 220 metres to go, before Longo (1:46.75) and Sepeng (1:46.82) regained control to claim the top two spots.
In heat nine, Glody Dube of Botswana took the initial lead, followed by Kenyan-born Bahraini Youssef Saad Kamel and Canadian Gary Reed. With Dube dropping back, Kamel moved to the front. But Reed (in in 1:46.74), and Mouhssin Chehibi of Morocco (1:46.77), ambushed Kamel in the homestretch to become the last two automatic qualifiers.
The long jump is on the other side of the stadium, but our lofted position does allow us the chance to see what is going on.
Britain's, Jade Johnson made things difficult for herself with two no jumps. With her final attempt she soared to 6.71 to exceed the 6.65 metres automatic qualifying distance.
Amongst the automatic qualifiers was super-swede Carolina Kluft, the heptathlon gold medallist and American Marion Jones.
Johnson has made the final unlike, three World champions France's Eunice Barber (6.37), Italian (ex Brit) Fiona May (6.38) and Spain’s Niurka Montello (with three no jumps).