Posted: August 9, 2005

Athletics: Kevin Sullivan and Nathan Brannen eliminated in men's 1,500 at world track and field championships

HELSINKI- Kevin Sullivan of Brantford, Ont., may have been a bit too patient in his heat and was eliminated in the men's 1,500 semifinals on Monday at the 2005 IAAF World Championships in track and field.

In the first of two semifinal heats, Adil Kaouch of Morocco placed first in three minutes and 40.51 seconds with Arturo Casado of Spain second in 3:40.61 and Alex Kipchirchir of Kenya third in 3:40.68. Rui Silva of Portugal and Reyes Esteves of Spain were fourth and fifth to also automatically qualify for Wednesday's final.

Sullivan, who has competed at every world championships since 1993, wound up seventh in 3:41.00 missing a berth by only 0.27 seconds.

"I gave myself a chance," said Sullivan, 31, the Canadian record holder. "It was a slow tactical race as I expected and I felt I positioned myself pretty well. But I probably wasn't aggressive enough and tried to save too much for the end."

The second semi was much faster as Rashid Ramzi of Brunei was the quickest in 3:34.69 with Alan Webb of the U.S., second in 3:36.07 and Tarek Boukensa of Algeria third in 3:36.14. Najim Daham Bashir of Qatar was fourth and Ivan Hesko of the Ukraine fifth to automatically advance while Juan Carlos Higuero of Spain and Yassine Bensghir of Morocco followed in sixth and seventh and also advanced with the next two fastest times overall.

Nathan Brannen of Cambridge, Ont., competing at his first worlds, was 10th in 3:39.37 and was also eliminated.

Brannen and Sullivan were the only two Canadians in action on Monday.

On Tuesday, the highly anticipated women's 100 hurdles gets underway with defending champion Perdita Felicien of Pickering, Ont., Angela Whyte of Edmonton and Priscilla Lopes of Whitby, Ont., scheduled to race in the opening heats.

Scott Russell of Windsor, Ont., also competes in the men's javelin and Tyler Christopher of Edmonton in the men's 400.