American Team Pushes Qualifiers Through Opening Rounds Of Women's 3,000 Steeplehase, Women's 400 Hurdles, Men's Hammer And Women's Pole Vault

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor 

Photos by Logan Hannigan-Downs

PHOTOS/INTERVIEWS

TOKYO -- Twenty-six-point-two challenging miles through the streets of downtown Tokyo were not enough to separate the two leaders of the men's marathon on Monday morning. 

Alphonce Felix Simbu of Tanzania used a late sprint on the homestretch of the Japan National Stadium track and leaned past Germany's Amanal Petros to win the race by .03 seconds -- a margin closer than either of Sunday night's 100-meter finals. 

Both men were timed in 2:09:48. Italy's Iliass Aouani, the seventh man on Syracuse's third-place NCAA cross country team in 2016, was five seconds behind the epic finish and earned bronze. 

Top American Clayton Young finished ninth in 2:10:43 and was right in the thick of the race until the final 2 kilometers. Reed Fischer finished 28th and CJ Albertson was 40th. 

The exciting finish energized a three-hour morning session in the stadium that continued to be hot and humid despite the early start times. 

Dalilah Muhammad, who has indicated she is likely to retire after this season, was fluid and graceful as she won her heat of the women's 400-meter hurdles, running a time of 53.80. 

Muhammad advanced to the semifinal round along with American teammates Jasmine Jones, who ran the fastest time of the five heats (53.18), and Anna Cockrell, who won the second heat. Favorite Femke Bol of The Netherlands won Heat 2. 

The young contingent of U.S. women's steeplechasers followed the same pattern in the semifinals, with Lexy Halladay-Lowry, Angelina Napoleon and Kaylee Mitchell all placing fifth in the three prelims. The top five in each race automatically advanced to the final. 

Halladay-Lowry, fresh out of BYU, ran 9:15.06, Napoleon of N.C. State ran 9:18.03, and Mitchell, a year out of Oregon State, ran 9:15.52. 

Doris Lemngole of Kenya, the NCAA record-breaker in June for Alabama, was second in the third (9:08.97), just behind Uganda medal contender Peruth Chemutai (9:07.68).  Faith Cherotich of Kenya and Winfred Yavi of Bahrain were the other heat winners.

In addition to American women going 6-for-6 for auto Qs on the track, Sandi Morris, Katie Moon, Hana Moll and Amanda Moll all made it to the finals of the women's pole vault. 

Morris and Moon in post-race comments said the possibility of a U.S. medal sweep was a distinct possibility. 

In the men's hammer, Rudy Winkler and Trey Knight both qualified for the final by finishing in the top 12. The lone casualty was Daniel Haugh, who finished 17th. 

The other news coming out of the morning session was that Olympic 100 meters champion Julien Alfred will be a scratch in the women's 200 meters after injuring a hamstring in Sunday night's 100 meters final. Alfred, who managed to win bronze, did not attend the post-race press conference.