Due to a technical error, stepping into his rival’s lane (the inside line), Qatari runner Musaab Abdulrahman yesterday squandered a golden chance to reach the semi-finals of the 800m in heat two, clocking 1:48.19 to finish fifth, while South Africa’s Andre Olivier topped the heat in 1:46.18, with Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski second in 1:46.26 and the Netherlands’ Kubris Sanjin third in 1:46.55. Looking back at how the race unfolded, Musaab made an ideal start and led the first stage, but committed the costly technical error that cost him the wager and passage among the leaders into the golden bracket, noting that the 800m event was contested by 18 runners split into three heats of six each, with the winner of each heat qualifying directly for the semi-finals, while the fastest remaining times are selected to join the qualifiers in the semi-finals
