Melissa Bishop finishes second in heat, goes through to finals

Melissa Bishop is giving Canadian fans something to watch as she moves though to the final in the women’s 800m.

Bishop ran in the second heat of three on a busy night at the track in Rio. Coming in with the fastest first round qualifying time, Bishop was the favourite to win the heat. The top two women in each heat go ahead automatically with the next two fastest times overall joining them. To go ahead, Bishop had to beat Eunice Sum–another medal contender going into Rio. With a 1:56.99 PB, the Kenyan athlete held one of the quickest lifetime bests in the event.

In the heat prior, Margaret Wambui and Francine Niymsaba took the first two spots to automatically advance.

As Bishop’s race went ahead, she started off by letting Sum take the lead. She sat in comfortably in the third and then fourth spot. In a competitive race with a lot on the line, there was some jostling and physical moments. Afterward, Bishop commented that it was the messiest race she has ever raced. At the start of the bell lap, she moved up to second before taking the lead from the pack in the final stretch.

#CAN Melissa Bishop finishes 2nd in 800m semifinal (1:59.09), qualifying for Saturday’s final #Rio2016 https://t.co/xi5zPeBnXb

— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) August 19, 2016

But as they came down the home stretch, Polish athlete Joanna Jozwik came seemingly out of nowhere with an incredibly strong kick. She overtook Bishop in the end, finishing in 1:58.93. It was an unexpected result but Bishop was in a safe spot with her 1:59.05 and is ready to go ahead and run the final on Saturday. Sum finished with 2:00.85. To the shock of many, she is did not qualify for the final.

The third heat saw the overwhelming favourite in Rio–South African Caster Semenya. She is expected to take the gold with Bishop competing likely for silver or bronze. Semenya took first in her heat in 1:58.17. Second to her was Britain’s Lynsey Sharp. As that was the fastest heat, the next two fastest times went to Kate Grace of U.S. and Marina Arzamasova of Belarus.

When asked in a post-race interview about her strategy for the final, Bishop was wise and kept quiet. “”As for my race plan, I think it’s best to see that unfold on the track,” she said.

The final will be on Saturday at 8:15 p.m. ET

Semi Final Results

POS	BIB	ATHLETE	COUNTRY	MARK
1	959	Margaret Nyairera WAMBUI	KEN	1:59.21 Q
2	370	Francine NIYONSABA	BDI	1:59.59 Q
3	1381	Ajee WILSON	USA	1:59.75
4	1302	Nataliia PRYSHCHEPA	UKR	1:59.95
5	377	Renée EYKENS	BEL	2:00.45
6	1272	Halimah NAKAAYI	UGA	2:00.63
7	872	Yusneysi SANTIUSTI	ITA	2:00.80
8	1093	Angelika CICHOCKA	POL	2:01.29

POS	BIB	ATHLETE	COUNTRY	MARK
1	1102	Joanna JÓZWIK	POL	1:58.93 Q	SB
2	468	Melissa BISHOP	CAN	1:59.05 Q
3	1202	Selina BÜCHEL	SUI	1:59.35
4	1228	Lovisa LINDH	SWE	1:59.41	PB
5	716	Shelayna OSKAN-CLARKE	GBR	1:59.45	SB
6	637	Habitam ALEMU	ETH	2:00.07
7	957	Eunice Jepkoech SUM	KEN	2:00.88
8	1292	Nataliia LUPU	UKR	2:02.10

POS	BIB	ATHLETE	COUNTRY	MARK
1	1170	Caster SEMENYA	RSA	1:58.15 Q
2	724	Lynsey SHARP	GBR	1:58.65 Q
3	1345	Kate GRACE	USA	1:58.79 q	PB
4	386	Marina ARZAMASOVA	BLR	1:58.87 q
5	382	Noélie YARIGO	BEN	1:59.78
6	942	Winny CHEBET	KEN	2:01.90
7	1195	Amela TERZIC	SRB	2:03.81
8	529	Chunyu WANG	CHN	2:04.05