Peter Bol becomes first Australian in 53 years to make Olympic 800 metres final

Peter Bol has qualified for the men’s 800 metres final in Tokyo, becoming the first Australian to achieve the feat since Ralph Doubell won gold at the 1968 Olympics.

Bol set an Australian and Oceania record with a time of 1 minute and 44.11 seconds to win his semi-final and guarantee automatic qualification for the decider on Wednesday night.

The 27-year-old put himself into contention for one of the automatic qualifying spots when he took the lead in the home straight of the final lap.

He held on to beat the rest of the field home, even having time to wag a finger on his right hand in celebration before crossing the line in first place.

“I put myself in the best position to qualify,” Bol told Channel Seven.

“Even if I didn’t, I would have been happy with it.”

Bol, who was born in Sudan, broke the national and Oceania record of 1:44.13 he had set in Saturday’s first-round heats.

On Sunday night, he finished ahead of Clayton Murphy (1:44.18) of the United States, who was the second automatic qualifier to come out of the second of three semi-finals.

“Job’s done today but still a lot to go,” Bol said.

 “We can’t underestimate any of these runners. Any day, someone can come out.”

Bol’s fellow Australians Charlie Hunter and Jeffrey Riseley did not advance from the semi-finals.

Hunter ran 1:46.73 to finish seventh in the opening semi-final, while Riseley was fifth in the third after posting a time of 1:47.17.

Australia has produced several promising male 800m runners since Doubell won gold in Mexico City but none have been able to reach an Olympic final until Bol.

Doubell set a world record of 1:44.40 when he triumphed, a time that stood as the Australian national record for 50 years.

It was equalled by Alex Rowe in 2014 but was not broken until Joseph Deng ran 1:44.21 in Monte Carlo in 2018.

Deng held the record before it was broken by his training partner Bol on Saturday in Tokyo.

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