Three semifinals, from which the first two will qualify automatically for the final with two more to qualify on time.

• Semifinal 1
  This semifinal started in the pouring rain, but Marco Arop wasn't fazed and took the lead ahead of Tyrice Taylor, Djamel Sedjati and Nicholas Kebenei. They reached the bell in a solid 52.06, but on the back straight Mark English sprinted past everyone and took over, leading the pack into the final bend. Arop and Sedjati responded, caught up with English on the final straight and finished side by side to qualify fairly comfortably. English bravely hung on for third, but his time was insufficient to qualify for the final.

      Result:
   1. Marco Arop            CAN  1:45.09 Q
   2. Djamel Sedjati        ALG  1:45.09 Q
   3. Mark English          IRL  1:45.47
   4. Maciej Wyderka        POL  1:45.55
   5. Ben Pattison          GBR  1:45.84
   6. Kethobogile Haingura  BOT  1:46.05
   7. Tyrice Taylor         JAM  1:46.56
   8. Nicholas Kebenei      KEN  1:49.54
  

• Semifinal 2
  As the athletes left their lanes Slimane Moula, whose standard strategy is to stay well back, tried to get near the leaders but was running into Francesco Pernici and Donavan Brazier, which made him fall way back. It probably cost him a lot of energy and he hardly featured in the race from there on. Meanwhile Pernici led in front of Max Burgin and they reached the bell in 51.60. At that point Burgin took over and seriously accelerated. On the back straight he was leading ahead of Pernici, Kelvin Kimtai Loti and Brazier. Cian McPhillips made a strong move forward, and around the bend Burgin and McPhillips were leading while Brazier was horribly boxed in. Onto the final straight McPhillips showed an astounding run and finished first in a new Irish record. Burgin easily qualified in second place. Brazier finally found some space on the inside and sprinted past Pernici to finish third. With his time of 1:43.82 it looked as though he had done enough to reach the final, but ten minutes later he was edged out by the the number four of the third semifinal by a mere 0.02 seconds!

      Result:
   1. Cian McPhillips       IRL  1:43.18 Q
   2. Max Burgin            GBR  1:43.37 Q
   3. Donavan Brazier       USA  1:43.82
   4. Francesco Pernici     ITA  1:43.84
   5. Gabriel Tual          FRA  1:44.09
   6. David Barroso         ESP  1:44.27
   7. Kelvin Kimtai Loti    KEN  1:44.82
   8. Slimane Moula         ALG  1:46.82
  

• Semifinal 3
  As the rain eased off the third semi got under way. It looked briefly as though Emmanuel Wanyonyi would take the lead, but Yanis Meziane and Tshepiso Masalela started even faster and so the field was stretched out as they reached halfway in 50.40. Mohamed Attaoui meanwhile started the race much slower, so much so that he was five meters behind the pack at one point and only got back in touch around 400m, just over a second behind the leaders. On the back straight Masalela and Wanyonyi moved forward as Meziane could not quite hang on. Attaoui moved up very impressively from way back, and as they reached the final straight Attaoui even took over the lead and sprinted away for victory. It was an impressive demonstration of even pace running (both laps in approximately 51.6) by the Spaniard. Wanyonyi could not catch Attaoui but still qualified with room to spare. Behind these two Bryce Hoppel found himself having to go around the tiring Meziane, thus losing some vital time and energy. During a frenetic final sprint Navasky Anderson, who ran a new Jamaican record, came just ahead of Masalela and Hoppel. As it turned out both Anderson and Masalela had done enough to qualify for the final, with Masalela all of two hundredths faster than Brazier was in semifinal two.

      Result:
   1. Mohamed Attaoui       ESP  1:43.18 Q
   2. Emmanuel Wanyonyi     KEN  1:43.47 Q
   3. Navasky Anderson      JAM  1:43.72 q
   4. Tshepiso Masalela     BOT  1:43.80 q
   5. Bryce Hoppel          USA  1:43.92
   6. Yanis Meziane         FRA  1:44.12
   7. Marino Bloudek        CRO  1:44.33
   8. Eliott Crestan        BEL  1:44.56
  

And so the world numbers one, two and three, Wanyonyi, Arop and Sedjati, all reached the final. So did Burgin and Attaoui, who both looked impressive in the semis. Masalela qualified only just, but still, all these athletes ran in last years Olympic final as well.

The two finalists from last year missing this time are Tual and Hoppel. Tual though had not been running all that great during the latter part of the season. Hoppel's season was mixed, and in the end he only just fell short.

Still, the USA delegation can hardly be happy with the way things have panned out. Young talent Lutkenhaus went tamely out in the heats. And both Hoppel and Brazier have now missed the final, if only by fractions. Meanwhile their best man, Josh Hoey, second fastest of the season, had to stay home after coming fourth in the exhausting US trials. The wisdom of such a system can once again be questioned.

The first round had seven heats. The first three of each heat would qualify and just three further athletes would qualify for the semis on time.

• Heat 1
  Roban, who had run a surprisingly fast time just a month earlier, was the one who took the lead and he kept a steady pace throughout. At 52.20 the first lap was at a fair pace. Sedjati and Haingura, favorites to qualify, were hiding in the pack. As they approached the final straight Barroso and Sedjati were closing in. Haingura found some space on the inside when Roban was unable to keep going, and so Barroso, Sedjati and Haingura were easing up into the finish and qualified comfortably. Kenyan Kipngetich disappointingly never really looked like making the top three.

      Result:
   1. David Barroso         ESP  1:44.94 Q
   2. Djamel Sedjati        ALG  1:45.01 Q
   3. Kethobogile Haingura  BOT  1:45.02 Q
   4. Ibrahim Chuot         QAT  1:45.16
   5. Handal Roban          VIN  1:45.32
   6. Alex Kipngetich       KEN  1:45.37
   7. Jared Micallef        MLT  1:46.62
   8. Giovanni Lazzaro      ITA  1:47.00
   9. Justin O'Toole        CAN  1:48.88
  

• Heat 2
  Dradiga was an early, rather reluctant leader while Arop and Attaoui were at the back of the field. Approaching the bell Arop was moving forward fast, and at the halway point, reached in 53.46, Arop was already ready to take over the lead. It was Loti though who lead on the back straight, with Arop second as Attaoui sprinted past the pack. Into the final straight Loti was leading ahead of Arop, Attaoui and Chapple. Attaoui dashed past everyone, Arop suddenly realized that with Loti and now Attaoui ahead of him he was only in third position. He moved out to find some space and go around Loti, but in doing so lost some pace himself, and in the end he finished only just ahead of Chapple. So Attaoui, Loti and Arop went through, while a very disappointed Chapple just missed out.

      Result:
   1. Mohamed Attaoui       ESP  1:45.23 Q
   2. Kelvin Kimtai Loti    KEN  1:45.35 Q
   3. Marco Arop            CAN  1:45.39 Q
   4. Samuel Chapple        NED  1:45.45
   5. Tiaman Crorken        GBR  1:45.63
   6. Tom Dradriga          UGA  1:46.18
   7. Pieter Sisk           BEL  1:46.37
   8. Abdelati El Guesse    MAR  1:46.80
   9. Musa Suliman          ART  1:48.92
  

• Heat 3
  On paper this looked like one of the easier heats. Pattison is returning from injury, Tual has looked out of sorts lately, and while Lutkenhaus showed huge promise in qualifying he is still only sixteen years old. The pace was not very fast, so only the top three would qualify. On the back straight Wyderka moved forward and resolutely took the lead ahead of Pattison, with García and Tual right behind them. Lutkenhaus was moving outside and looked ready to strike. But in the end the heat fizzled out with nothing much happening. Wyderka and Pattison simply ran home and Tual found some extra speed while García didn't. Lutkenhaus never really found anything special and went out anonymously. And so Josh Hoey, second fastest athlete of the season, will probably sit at home wondering how he would have performed instead, if only Lutkenhaus had not produced that magic finish out of nowhere at the US trials.

      Result:
   1. Maciej Wyderka        POL  1:46.30 Q
   2. Ben Pattison          GBR  1:46.51 Q
   3. Gabriel Tual          FRA  1:46.54 Q
   4. Mariano García        ESP  1:47.09
   5. Mouad Zahafi          MAR  1:47.14
   6. Ebrahim Alzofairi     KUW  1:47.26
   7. Cooper Lutkenhaus     USA  1:47.68
   8. Matthew Erickson      CAN  1:48.49
   9. Hein Htet Aung        MYA  1:52.70
  

• Heat 4
  When they rounded 400m in 52.34, with Hoppel and Bol leading confidently, ahead of Taylor and Kramer, nothing seemed to indicate that anyone from the others would be able to challenge. But as they reached the final bend McPhillips made a move forward and on the final straight he simply ran past everybody to win this heat convincingly. Hoppel and Bol were running out of steam and Taylor took his chance, moved outside and finished third. Hoppel just hung on for second, but Bol missed out by a fraction. Half an hour later he found out he was in the unlucky position of having run the fastest time without qualifying for the semifinals.

      Result:
   1. Cian McPhillips       IRL  1:44.91 Q
   2. Bryce Hoppel          USA  1:45.09 Q
   3. Tyrice Taylor         JAM  1:45.13 Q
   4. Peter Bol             AUS  1:45.15
   5. Ivan Pelizza          SUI  1:45.65
   6. Catalin Tecuceanu     ITA  1:46.22
   7. Alexander Stepanov    GER  1:46.32
   8. Andreas Kramer        SWE  1:46.84
   9. Stephen Rahuasi       SOL  1:55.21
   

• Heat 5
  In this heat all eyes were on Emmanuel Wanyonyi, and he duly took the lead as they reached halfway in a decent 51.76. But Wanyonyi wasn't running at full speed, and so Grønstad took over and Hassan went with him. As the pace dropped somewhat many other runners were working their way forward and in the ensuing crowd a few bumps here and there occurred. The leaders were unable to maintain their pace, so Wanyonyi went around them but on the final bend Ali Gouaned was leading with Wanyonyi and English following. On the final straight Ali Gouaned was fading, Wanyonyi eased past and so did English. From the back Pernici found a terrific final dash and so he took second to qualify as well. A rather chaotic heat, that started fairly fast, then slowed down considerably, but eventually finished very fast again.

      Result:
   1. Emmanuel Wanyonyi     KEN  1:45.05 Q
   2. Francesco Pernici     ITA  1:45.11 Q
   3. Mark English          IRL  1:45.13 Q
   4. Peyton Craig          AUS  1:45.44
   5. Mohamed Ali Gouaned   ALG  1:45.49
   6. Tobias Grønstad       NOR  1:45.93
   7. Ko Ochiai             JPN  1:46.78
   8. Abdullahi Hassan      CAN  1:47.50
   9. Ryan Clarke           NED  1:49.08
  

• Heat 6
  This looked a really tough heat, with Masalela, Burgin, Crestan and Meziane all in the top twenty of the world rankings. Masalela took them out fast, with Burgin and Crestan following. They reached the bell after 51.38, easily the fastest of all the heats. Not many positions changed since the pace was too fast for that. And so Burgin and Masalela finished side by side. Crestan was passed on the final straight by both Anderson and Meziane, but all of them eventually qualified due to their fast times.

      Result:
   1. Max Burgin            GBR  1:44.73 Q
   2. Tshepiso Masalela     BOT  1:44.74 Q
   3. Navasky Anderson      JAM  1:44.87 Q
   4. Yanis Meziane         FRA  1:45.02 q
   5. Eliott Crestan        BEL  1:45.05 q
   6. Luke Boyes            AUS  1:45.54
   7. Patryk Sieradzki      POL  1:45.90
   8. Yohannes Tefera       ETH  1:50.93
   9. Mohammed Dwedar       PLE  1:53.63
  

• Heat 7
  Brazier looked likely to take the front, but when he saw Kebenei was willing to set a good pace Brazier settled down a few places back. Kebenei reached halfway in 52:15 followed by BLoudek, El Assal and Brazier. A gap was opening up between the first four and the others on the back straight, and so Moula found himself with a lot to do as they reached the final bend. Brazier was holding the curve and El Assal was trying to get past him, and the two of them briefly locked arms before Brazier went ahead. With Kebenei finding it hard to keep his pace Brazier and Bloudek went past and qualified. Moula produced his trademark final dash and even managed to come second. Kebenei used everything he had left to finish as quickly as he could and was rewarded with the fastest losing spot, thus qualifying as well.

      Result:
   1. Donavan Brazier       USA  1:44.66 Q
   2. Slimane Moula         ALG  1:44.77 Q
   3. Marino Bloudek        CRO  1:44.78 Q
   4. Nicholas Kebenei      KEN  1:44.91 q
   5. Filip Ostrowski       POL  1:45.47
   6. Jakub Dudycha         CZE  1:45.76
   7. Abderrahman El Assal  MAR  1:46.12
   8. Alex Amankwa          GHA  1:47.12
   9. Eduardo Ribeiro       BRA  1:50.40
  

Basically all the main favourites went through to the semifinals. Wanyonyi, Sedjati, Brazier, Burgin, Attaoui and Masalela all looked strong and qualified convincingly, while Arop, Hoppel and Tual did qualify, but not as simply as they might have hoped.

The most obvious absentees would be Peter Bol, Andres Kramer and perhaps Cooper Lutkenhaus. Bol was unlucky enough to be the fastest non-qualifer. Kramer simply seemed to lack pace, and Lutkenhaus - well, he's only sixteen, his time wasn't quite yet, but it will come.