Tokyo Olympics 2020: Nick Willis advances to 1500m semifinal in fifth Olympics, Sam Tanner misses out

Double Olympic medallist Nick Willis is still alive in the 1500m, at the age of 38.

Willis finished seventh in the third heat, one place outside automatic qualification, but was among the six fastest "losers" across three heats who still go through to Thursday's semifinals in Tokyo.

Willis - the oldest man to win an Olympic 1500m medal - ran a cagey race and was often just in the top six, but faded in the final stretch in recording a season's best 3:36.88.

Willis is at his fifth Olympics, having won a bronze and silver already. He's unlikely to figure in the medals but it was an amazing run at his age to make the semifinals and he had the 14th fastest time.

Nick Willis after completing his 1500m heat. Photo / Getty

But fellow Kiwi Sam Tanner's Olympic dream struck trouble in the second heat of the Olympic 1500m, and he missed out on progressing.

The 20-year-old Tanner finished ninth in his heat, well short of the top six placing he needed to automatically make the semifinals, and his time of 3:43.22 wasn't nearly good enough. It was nearly 10 seconds outside his national indoor record, and about six seconds short of being semifinal quality.

Tanner gave a big grin and a double thumbs up at the start line, but the race did not go well.

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The rookie was never well placed, trapped on the inside and towards the back of the field in a race which included a couple of falls in wet conditions.

Olympic champion Matthew Centrowitz (USA) and world champion Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya are among those to progress already.

Ismael Debjani of Belgium had the fastest time of 3.36, with likely favourite Cheruiyot - who struggled to make the Kenyan team via their trials system - and Australian Oliver Hoare close behind.

The semifinalists will also include the Norwegian star Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who was also expected to be in the medal hunt.