Jelimo bids for gold tonight

Olympic champion Pamela Jelimo was second fastest in the heats for the women's 800m semi-finals, and has hopes of making the final.

The Kenyan is joined in this evening's semi-finals by compatriots Cherono Koech and Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei in a triple assault on stopping Alysia Johnson Montano of the USA from prevailing after she posted the fastest time of 2:00.47. "I ran a tactical race because in this Olympics, one has to be careful not to falter or be tripped. My body feels well and I hope for the best," said Jelimo, who won by a margin of 10m (2:00.54) from Team GB's Lynsey Sharp (2:01.41). "What was important was to qualify for the semi-final. I guess tonight's race could be harder than Wednesday's, so my plan was to qualify first then wait for the next level," she added. Meanwhile, Koech had to work hard to finish third in 2:08.43 behind the Ukrainian Natallia Lupu (2:08.35) and Elena Arzhakova of Russia (2:08.39) in her heat, while Jepkosgei won in 2:01.04 from Russia's Poistogova (2:01.08) and Colombia's Rosibel Garcia (2:01.30). South Africa's Caster Semenya, Halima Hachlaf of Morroco, and the Russian pair Ekaterina Poistogova and Mariya Savinova all made it through to tonight's semi-finals. Whatever the Kenyan women's fate, the country should celebrate a gold medal thanks to David Rudisha who is the hot favourite for the men's final tonight. Team GB's Andrew Osagie excelled to qualify in second place, and will line up in a field that also includes the improving Nijel Amos from Botswana and Ethiopia's Mohammed Aman .