Australian Zoe Buckman has stormed into medal calculations at the world athletics championships by qualifying fastest for the women’s 1500m final.
The 24-year-old arrived in Moscow hoping to become the first Australian woman to qualify for a world 1500m final.
And having achieved that aim in the most decisive way possible, a medal has suddenly become a real possibility.
Buckman clocked a personal best of four minutes 4.82 seconds in winning the first semi.
And with Abeba Aregawi of Sweden winning the second semi in 4:05.66, the Victorian runner suddenly found herself the fastest qualifier for the final on Thursday night.
In other Australian action on day four, Julian Wruck threw well below his best to finish 11th in the men’s discus.
Wruck – who set his personal best of 68.16m in California in June – could do no better than 62.40m on Sunday to miss the halfway cut in the final.
Germany’s Robert Harting continued his modern-day domination of the event, claiming a third straight world title with a best throw of 69.11m to go with his London Olympics triumph.
Piotr Malachowski of Poland was second with 68.36m and Gerd Kanter of Estonia was third with 65.19m.
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Australian duo Lauren Boden and Tristan Thomas were both eliminated in the semi-finals of the 400m hurdles.
Boden was second-last in her semi in 55.75 seconds, with Czech Zuzana Hejnova clocking the fastest qualifying time of 53.52 heading into Thursday night’s final.
Thomas didn’t fare any better in the men’s semis, where he was also seventh in his race in 49.91.
The leading overall qualifier was Omar Cisneros of Cuba in 47.93, the fastest time in the world this year.
