Reed Represents Canada in Mens 800m Final

Canadian Gary Reed made a huge push down the stretch in his 800-metre semifinal late in Day 13 of the Beijing Olympics, qualifying for the final.

Reed of Kamloops, B.C., finished in a time of one minute, 45.85 seconds, having enough on a rainy track to just hold off Boaz -Kiplagat Lalang of Kenya. The top two from each of three semifinals automatically qualified for the final.

Nabil Madi of Algeria won the heat.

"I tried to be patient; I just tried to kick them down the last 100," said Reed. "I knew if I was patient in the race and played it smarter than yesterday, I'd be OK."

Reed didn't like his first Beijing Olympic race on Wednesday, but his time was good enough to qualify for the semifinals.

"To be honest with you, we just moved on as quick as we could and got ready for this race today," said Reed. "What happened yesterday was over. I was mad at myself for a minute … and now it's on to the final."

The final takes place on Saturday evening at Bird's Nest Stadium.

Others qualifying include:

Wilfred Bungei and Alfred Kirwa Yego of Kenya.
Yeimer Lopez of Cuba.
Ismail Ahmed Ismail of Sudan.
There were some surprising names not qualifying for the final.

Defending Olympic champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy of Russia did not make it, while Abubaker Kaki of Sudan, who had run the fastest time in 2008, finished last in his heat.