World 800m, 1500m Champions Fail To Make Olympic Qualification

World 800m, 1500m Champions Fail To Make Olympic Qualification By Uche Dozie A shocking turn of events it was as World 800 metres, Donavan Brazier of America and 1500 metres, Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya fail to secure a spot at next month's Olympics in their respective track events, BSNSports.com.ng can report. At the US Team Trials going on in Eugene, Brazier faltered and finished a disappointing last in the men's 800 metres and failed to make the American team in Tokyo. Clayton Murphy stormed to victory in the men’s 800m. Murphy, who won Olympic bronze five years ago, powered past Isaiah Jewett in the closing stages to run a world lead of 1:43.17. Jewett had led through 400m in 50.60 and 600m in 75.65 – a pace that Brazier struggled to stay in touch with and the favourite began to drift backwards around the final turn. Jewett took second in 1:43.85 as Bryce Hoppel finished third in 1:44.14. While at the Kenyan Olympic Trials in Nairobi, which ended on Saturday the 19th of June, 2021, Timothy Cheruiyot was found lagging behind in the scheme of things as he finished fourth in the 1500 metres event. Charles Simotwo won in 3:33.02 ahead of little-known Kamar Etiyang in 3:33.12 with Abel Kipsang third in 3:34.36. The world champion and world leader who apparently was affected by injury clocked a time of 3:34.62. Consequently, the 25-year-old was not given a second chance and was controversially ignored by the Kenyan selectors when they named their three athletes for Tokyo. The development has sparked off criticism from Kenyans.