Kiwi through to 1500m semis

BERLIN - English-born New Zealander Nikki Hamblin put the disappointment of crashing out of the 800m behind her to advance to the semifinals in the women's 1500m at the athletics world championship here today.

Hamblin, 21, tripped over her own legs in the final heat of her specialist 800m on Sunday. She bravely continued but missed qualification by a considerable margin.

She made some amends today by finishing eighth in the second of the three 1500m heats, with her time of four minutes 09.60 seconds one of fastest of the non-automatic qualifiers.

The top six in each heat and six fastest times advanced to the semifinals.

Hamblin's heat was won by Ethiopia's Gelete Burka in four min 07.75sec.

Hamblin, who only recently became a New Zealand citizen having emigrated from Britain, found herself boxed in at the back of the field after the first lap.

She remained in that position until two runners fell at the 900m mark which cleared the way for her move inside the top ten.

While Hamblin was never in contention to win the race, she sprinted home with a determined look to book a spot in Saturday morning's semifinal.

"I was just happy to be racing. After I fell in the 800m, I was gutted," she said.

"The 800 was such an open event this year. Just under two minutes would've got you in the final, which is achievable for me."

Hamblin said she had been considering pulling out of the 1500m if she had qualified for the semifinals of the 800m.

However after the heartbreak of missing out in her favoured event, she and her coach Chris Pilone decided there was nothing to lose by running.

"It wasn't really a hard decision," she said.

"You know I could sit in the hotel room and watch and wonder what if, or I could get out here and give it a go.

"This is all learning for me. I knew I might as well make the most of this opportunity and to do that would be to come out and run."

Meanwhile a nagging back injury ruined Andrea Miller's chances of progressing past the heats of the women's 100m hurdles.

She missed qualifying for the second round after running sixth in 13.83sec, well outside her personal best of 13.10sec, achieved in Geneva earlier this year.

Miller's heat was won by American Dawn Harper in 12.70sec.

Miller was selected for the world championships as one of seven "development athletes" with an eye to next year's Commonwealth Games in India and the London Olympics in 2012.

However a back injury, suffered at the world university games in Serbia last month, badly hampered her preparation.

"The run was pretty smooth but I was just missing that fire.

"I think it's because the last month I've not been able to train. I've probably done two hurdle sessions so it's been pretty disappointing," Miller said.

Her focus will now shift to next year's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, where she is aiming for a medal finish.

- NZPA