BAHRAIN’S Musa Isah advanced to the men’s 400 metres semi-final yesterday in the IAAF World U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland yesterday.
Competing in the first of seven heats, Isah finished as the runner-up with a time of 47.50 seconds. He was narrowly behind race winner Khamal Stewart-Baynes of Canada, who had a mark of 47.10s. Antonio Grant of Panama finished third in 47.64s.
Only the top three from each of the heats qualified for the semi-final round, along with the three fastest losers overall.
Winners of the other heats were Jonathan Sacoor of Belgium, Aruna Dharshana of Sri Lanka, Chantz Sawyers of Jamaica, Jonathan Jones of Barbados, Christopher Taylor of Jamaica and Myles Misener-Daley of Canada.
The semi-finals are scheduled to take place today. There will be three heats, with Isah competing in the third. Only the first two in each heat, plus the two fastest losers overall, will move on to the medal round.
Isah will be running in the third and final heat, which is scheduled for a 7.54pm start, Bahrain time. The final will be tomorrow.
Isah is one of three Bahrainis in the under-20 worlds. Winfred Mutile Yavi and Marawan Medany are the others. Winfred has advanced to the women’s 3,000m steeplechase final, while Marawan is set to compete in the men’s discus throw (1.750kg) from Saturday.
The meeting continues until Sunday.