Kiwi middle distance runners Sam Tanner and Nick Willis have had a mixed day in the men's 1500m heats at the Tokyo Olympics this afternoon.
Entering the competition, the Kiwis needed a top six finish in their heat to guarantee a spot in the semi-finals, otherwise they'd have to rely on being one of the six fastest left who had missed the initial cut off.
Tanner was first up in heat two and managed to finish ninth with a time of 3:43.22.
The 20-year-old was sitting in the middle of the 16-man pack through the first lap as runners jostled for position in the opening lap.
Tanner then got tied up with Luxembourg's Charles Grethen early in the second lap and fell to the back but did well to recover by the end of the second lap and remain in the middle of the field.
The bell rang for the final lap and Tanner was still in the main pack as runners began to make their moves, including two runners who fell over.
Tanner came through the final straight ninth and that's where he stayed to finish his heat.
Five-time Olympian Willis then ran in heat three, ending up just 0.13 seconds outside the top six in his heat to finish with a season best time of 3:36.88.
The 38-year-old was right in the mix from the get go, sitting fourth at both the 400m and 800m marks in the race.
However, the field went up another gear in the second half with Willis moving back to seventh where he would eventually finish just behind Spain's Adel Mechaal.
Fortunately for Willis, he advanced through to the semi-finals as one of the sixth-fastest to have not already qualified but the same couldn't be said for Tanner who missed out by two seconds.
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