Australian middle distance hope Catriona Bisset has found the going too hot in the semi-finals of the 800 metres at the world indoor championships in Glasgow.
The morning after Nicola Olyslagers had won Australia's first gold of the three-day even in the high jump, Oceanian record holder Bisset had been hoping to follow up by booking a place in the final in a bid to improve on her fifth place finish in 2022.
But in a heat full of quality on Saturday, Bisset, who had celebrated her 30th birthday the previous day, was unable to live with the pace as she bowed out in fifth place in 2min 00.13sec.
With three places up for grabs, Newcastle-born Bisset had let four of the field power away from her early on but looked to have timed her late run well as she moved into fourth place coming into the final bend.
She had looked set to challenge the leaders before fading late in a race won by Ethiopia's Tsige Duguma in a personal best 1:58.35.
In the other semi, Scottish hope Jemma Reekie delighted her fans by cruising into Sunday's final (Monday AEDT) in the fastest time, 1:58.28, and will be expected to provide the meeting highlight for the hosts.
In the morning's only final, Miltiadis Tentoglou, of Greece, confirmed his position as the world's premier long jumper by edging Italian teenager Mattia Furlani to win yet another gold.
Already the reigning Olympic and world outdoor and indoor champion, Tentoglou leapt 8.22m, the same distance as 19-year-old Furlani, but prevailed because his second-best effort was longer than the teenager's.
Afterwards, Tentoglou threatened to quit long jumping if athletics implemented a rule change intended to eliminate fouls.
World Athletics has proposed the introduction of a take-off zone where jumps would be measured from an athlete's take-off to landing position, thus getting rid of foul jumps.
It's been suggested the event would be more appealing to fans, but the idea has been met with plenty of opposition.
"I consider long jump to be one of the hardest events because of the board and the accuracy you need," Tentoglou told reporters.
"You need to run like a sprinter, to hit the board perfectly -- this is the difficult part of the long jump. The jump itself is easy. The hard part is the run-up.
"So if they want to remove this, the long jump would be the easiest event. If that happens, I will not do long jump anymore. I will be a triple jumper."
With Reuters
