Brave Soos out in 800m semi

Soos sprints for the line

Britain's Ricky Soos ran a brave race but could not make it through a classy field into the 800m final.

Former world champion Wilson Kipketer dominated a fast semi-final as Soos gave it everything but could finish only sixth, in 1 minute 46.74 seconds.

World champion Djabir Said Guerni, lucky to qualify from his heat, looked much better in winning his semi-final.

Soos said: ""I felt I had a good chance but I wasn't there - I just didn't feel it in my legs on the day."

Soos, who ran a personal best to make it into the semis, tried to run his own race despite a frantic early pace.

"I knew it would be fast, so I thought I'd stay off the pace, but I didn't have my usual last 200m," he said.

"I'm reasonably happy but there's a lot more there. I had a chance to get to the final and I didn't make it."

Kenya's Wilfred Bungei clocked a rapid 1:44.28 to win the second semi-final, with Russia's talented Yuriy Borzakovskiy coming through with his trademark sprint to qualify in second.

Said Guerni was badly spiked on his shin with 250m to go, and left the track bleeding badly.

Reigning Olympic champion Nils Schumann is missing Athens after operations on both Achilles tendons.