Sport

Brian Gregan into 400m semi-finals in Moscow

Clonliffe Harriers athlete one of four fastest qualifiers after finishing sixth in his heat

Ireland’s Brian Gregan (centre) trails Anderson Henriques of Brazil (left) and Arman Hall of the United States in his 400m heats at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Moscow this morning. Photograph: Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Sun Aug 11 2013 - 17:24

Dubliner Brian Gregan has qualified for the 400m semi-final at the World Athletics Championships in Moscow.

The 23-year-old made it through as one of four fastest qualifiers after finishing sixth in his heat in a time of 46.04 seconds.

“After four rough weeks I’ve made the semi finals of the world champs,” he tweeted soon afterwards. “Thank you all for the support.”

Gregan, of Clonliffe Harriers Athletics Club and European Under-23 silver medallist, was just over half a second off his personal best (45.53), though had he matched that it would not have made a difference to his final standing in Heat 2.

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American LaShwn Merritt (44.920) was the only athlete to break 45 seconds in the heats.

He and Gregan will run in the semi-finals on Monday at 5.05pm.

American-born Tori Pena failed to clear 4.45m in the women’s Pole Vault and was eliminated at the first qualifying stage.

Men’s 400m Heats

Heat 1: 1 Tony McQuay (USA) 45.060secs (Q), 2 Jonathan Borlee (Bel) 45.240 (Q), 3 Nick Ekelund-Arenander (Den) 45.810 (Q), 4 Nery Brenes (Crc) 46.160 (Q), 5 Ramon Miller (Brn) 47.530 DQ: Yoandys Lescay (Cub), Thet Zaw Win (Mya)

Heat 2: 1 Anderson Henriques (Bra) 45.130secs (Q), 2 Javon Francis (Jam) 45.370 (Q), 3 Matteo Galvan (Ita) 45.390 (Q), 4 Yousef Ahmed Masrahi (Ksa) 45.390 (Q), 5 Arman Hall (USA) 45.450 (q), 6 Brian Gregan (Irl) 46.040 (q), 7 Hamdinou Cheikh El Wely (Mtn) 52.330

Heat 3: 1 LaShawn Merritt (USA) 44.920secs (Q), 2 Deon Lendore (Tri) 45.170 (Q), 3 Pavel Maslak (Cze) 45.440 (Q), 4 Jose Melendez (Ven) 45.820 (Q), 5 Vladimir Krasnov (Rus) 46.230, 6 LaToy Williams (Bah) 46.650, 7 Ak. Hafiy Tajuddin Rositi (Bru) 49.980

Heat 4: 1 Luguelin Santos (Dma) 45.230secs (Q), 2 Kevin Borlee (Bel) 45.320 (Q), 3 Chris Brown (Bah) 45.390 (Q), 4 Nigel Levine (Gbr) 45.410 (Q), 5 Omar Johnson (Jam) 45.970 (q), 6 Yuzo Kanemaru (Jpn) 46.180 (q) DQ: Daniel Aleman (Nca)

Heat 5: 1 Kirani James (Grn) 45.000secs (Q), 2 Jarrin Solomon (Tri) 45.190 (Q), 3 Javere Bell (Jam) 45.200 (Q), 4 Gustavo Cuesta (Dma) 45.930 (Q), 5 Wayde Van Niekerk (Rsa) 46.370, 6 Kevin Moore (Mlt) 47.520, 7 Angelo Garland (Tks) 48.650