By Gareth James
Jake Heyward has seized his opportunity to claim a hugely impressive place in the final of the 1500m at his first Olympic Games by smashing the Welsh record for the distance.
The 22-year-old Welsh star ran a personal best of 3:32.82 to take sixth place in his semi-final and qualify as one of the two fastest athletes not inside the top five.
The second semi-final was run at a blistering pace as winner Abel Kipsang of Kenya broke the Olympic record with a time of 3:31.65.
Scottish pair Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman joined Heyward in making it through to Saturday’s final after advancing through their semi-final on Thursday.
It is the first time all three Team GB entrants have advanced to the men’s 1500m final since 1984.
Heyward is part of a young trio who are living up to the hype and all three will harbor dreams of winning an Olympic medal in the penultimate day of competition in Tokyo.
A personal best and a spot in the men’s 1500m final! 🙌
Welsh athlete Jake Heyward with a brilliant run to qualify today #bbcolympics #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/ZvsLEq84Hx
— BBC Sport Wales (@BBCSportWales) August 5, 2021
“That’s just the semi-final, it doesn’t really matter what you do at that, it just matters that you get through,” said Heyward.
“Everyone’s going to remember the final, so if you go out and have a good one there, that’s what counts. I hope everybody at home is proud of me and hopefully they’ve now got something to watch on Saturday!”
Wightman took victory in the first semi-final in a time of 3:33.48 ahead of the USA’s Cole Hocker and gold medal favourite Timothy Cheruiyot from Kenya.
The second semi-final was won by Kenyan Kipsang in 3:31.65, setting a new Olympic record, with Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen (3:32.13) second and Kerr third (3:32.18).
All l three Britons will now compete for medals in the 1500m final due to take place at 12.40pm on Saturday.