Paris Olympics: Cheruiyot, Komen to chase gold in 1500m final

Former World Champion Timothy Cheruiyot is through to the Paris Olympics men’s 1500m final after sneaking his way through Sunday’s set of semifinals at Stade de France.

Cheruiyot, who is seeking to win his first Olympics gold medal, will in the Tuesday final be joined by rookie Brian Komen, who also successfully made his way through his semifinal and in a more comfortable fashion.

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Komen, the 2023 African Games gold medalist, made it to his first Olympic Games final with a fourth place finish in semifinal one, timing 3:32.57.

The Kenyan, running in a studded semifinal, showed good poise to remain within touching distance of the race leaders, eventually kicking his strides in the homestretch behind favorites Jakob Ingebrigtsen, World Champion Josh Kerr, and Cole Hocker of USA.

Cheruiyot, on the other hand, looked to be laboring to a shock exit in the early stages of the final lap, before producing a late kick on the outside to come home fifth in a time of 3:32.30.

With the top six finishers from each semifinal going through, the pair will now be the ones to watch out for on Tuesday, as they chase the country’s first medal at this year’s Olympic Games.

World U20 champion Reynold Kipkorir will however watch the action from outside, as he faded to a 10th place finish in Semifinal One, thus missing out on a final in his debut games.

He timed a disappointing 3:35.32.

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