Rio Olympics: South Africa's Caster Semenya reaches 800m final

Caster Semenya 

South Africa's Caster Semenya cruised into Sunday's final of the Olympic women's 800m in Rio.


The 25-year-old, who won silver at London 2012, clocked one minute 58.17 seconds to win her semi-final.

Britain's Lynsey Sharp also progressed - in a time of 1:58.65 - but compatriot Shelayna Oskan-Clarke is out.

It was also a mixed night for Britain's men's 1500m runners as Charlie Grice progressed to Sunday's final but Chris O'Hare missed out.

"I didn't really believe it until I saw it up on the screen," said Sharp.

"There is nothing to lose in the final. I don't just want to be a finalist; I want to fight for a medal. We have seen so many shocks over the last few days here so it is clear anything can happen."

O'Hare dropped out of contention in the final 100m of his race.

"I'm not sure what went wrong," he said. "I put myself in the position with 200m to go and felt fine but when I went to turn it on it wasn't there.

"It's disappointing because I wanted to do so much better for my family and everyone supporting."