Goul-Toppin misses 800 final

Keith McGhie/Contributor

Natoya Goule-Toppin's hopes of making it to her third World Championship 800-metre final evaporated down the home straight of her semi-final at the National Stadium in Tokyo.

Jamaica's ten-time National Champion ran strongly over the first lap and a half of the first of three 'final eliminators' but was relegated by the faster finishers in the closing stages to finish fifth in 1:59.58.

Goule-Toppin, now 34, had won her heat in a similar time the day before, but had little answer to the pace of her younger opposition, led by Kenya's defending World Champion Mary Moraa of Kenya with a time of 1:58.40.

Another Kenyan Lilian Odira was the quickest of the three semi-final winners in 1:56.85, while Olympic Champion and pre-event favourite Keely Hodgkinson also made it through, winnin her heat in 1:57.53.

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