Kenya’s hopes of winning a second gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA, were boosted significantly on Friday when Mary Moraa and Naomi Korir advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s 800m race.
Moraa, who set a personal best of 1.57.45 seconds at the Kenyan trials on June 24, finished second in Heat 6 to automatically qualify for the semi-finals with a time of 2:00.42.
Natoya Goule of Jamaica won the race in 2:00.06, while Anna Wielgosz of Poland finished third in 2:00.79.
Moraa will however be hoping to build on her maiden Diamond League in 1:58.93 in Rabat on June 5 to motivate her to win the gold medal for Kenya.
Naomi Korir settled fifth in Heat 4 clocking 2:01.61 to advance as one of the non-automatic qualifiers. France’s Renelle Lamote won that Heat in 2:00.71 ahead of Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu (2:00.93) and USA’s Ajee Wilson (2:01.02) who were in second and third positions respectively.
Meanwhile, Jarinter Mawia bowed out after finishing fifth in heat one.
She clocked 2:02.35 in a race won by Ethiopia’s Diribe Weleteji who timed 1:58.83 ahead of Great Britain’s Jemma who timed 1:59.09.
