RIO DE JANEIRO—Tri-Village graduate Clayton Murphy advanced to the semifinals of the men’s 800 meter run at the 2016 Olympics.
Murphy, the 800 meter champion at the USA Track and Field Olympic Trials, advanced to the Olympic semifinals by having one of the fastest times among the non-automatic qualifiers.
The Olympic preliminaries were split into seven heats. The top three finishers in each heat automatically qualified for the semifinals while the three fastest non-automatic qualifiers also qualified.
Murphy ran in the third heat along with world record holder David Rudisha, a Kenyan who won gold in the 800 meters at the 2012 Olympics in London. Murphy finished fourth in his heat behind Rudisha, Italy’s Giordano Benedetti and Poland’s Adam Kszczot, forcing the 2013 Tri-Village graduate to sit and wait for the final four heats to see if his time of 1:46.18 would be good enough to make the semifinals.
Murphy’s time was good enough as it was second best among non-automatic qualifiers and 12th fastest overall despite being bumped multiple times during his race.
“It is all about surviving and advancing, and I’m glad I get to run another day,” Murphy said, according to the University of Akron athletics website.
Murphy, a former national champion for Akron, now will race in Saturday’s semifinals with a spot in the Olympic finals at stake. Saturday’s finals are scheduled to begin at 9:08 p.m. Murphy is in the third and final semifinal, which is scheduled to start at 9:26 p.m.
Saturday’s races are scheduled to be televised by NBC. They might air live or be tape delayed on television. The races will be shown live on the Internet at http://stream.nbcolympics.com/track-and-field-day-8-evening.
Eight athletes will qualify for Monday’s championship run – the top two in each heat plus the two next fastest runners. Murphy’s personal-best time in the 800 meters is 1:44.76, which in 2012 would have been good enough to qualify for the finals.
Murphy will be joined by fellow American Boris Berian in the semifinals. A third American, Charles Jock, didn’t qualify for the semifinals.
