Hellen Obiri leads Kasait, Tirop into 5,000m final
What you need to know:
- The Netherlands' Sifan Hassan won the first heat in 14.47.89, with Agnes Tirop second in 14:48.01.
- Lillian Kasait was fifth, to complete the automatic qualification places in the heat while Ethiopians Senbere Teferi and Ejgayehu Taye would third and fourth respectively.
World champion Hellen Obiri led compatriots Lillian Kasait and Agnes Tirop into the 5,000 metres final after successfully navigating their heats on Friday at the National Olympic Stadium here.
With defending champion Vivian Cheruiyot out of the race after retiring from the track following her victory in Rio five years ago, the Kenyan trio will be hoping to come on top in the final.
Cheruiyot has since scaled to the road races.
The Netherlands' Sifan Hassan won the first heat in 14.47.89, with Agnes Tirop second in 14:48.01.
Lillian Kasait was fifth, to complete the automatic qualification places in the heat while Ethiopians Senbere Teferi and Ejgayehu Taye would third and fourth respectively.
Hassan, bidding to become the first athlete to win three individual gold medals on the track, waited patiently in the middle of the pack until the last 600 metres before she surged to the front at the bell to ease to victory.
Obiri finished second in Heat 2 behind Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay while Italy's Nadia Battocletti was third.
Burundi's Frasncine Niyonsaba, who was bidding to get into the podium in the final after scaling up to the 5,000m, was disqualified from the race.