Athletics: Dibaba keeps double bid on track

Beijing

Ethiopian track sensation Genzebe Dibaba kept her bid for a world double well on track on Thursday with Usain Bolt later also going for a second sprint title.

Dibaba coasted into the final of the 5,000m in her attempt to emulate elder sister and the event's world record holder Tirunesh by adding to her comprehensive victory in the 1,500m.

"Winning the 1,500m gold medal gave me confidence but you never know what's going to happen in the final," said Dibaba, whose own world record in the 1,500m in Lausanne last month was the fourth she currently holds.

"If I continue my good performances, I can run faster than the current world record in the 5,000m (set by Tirunesh in Oslo in 2008)."

The mediocre performance by the US team, by their own high standards, was maintained in hot, clear conditions when three-time defending champion Brittney Reese failed to qualify for the final of the women's long jump.

"I had surgery on my left hip after Moscow in 2013," Reese said. "The pain in the hip goes away and comes back. The doctors told me it takes two years. Two days ago the hip started to hurt again, so I got massages.

"I was not able to go the distance today, but my goal is not to chase medals - I already have five or six of them." But one jumper who did qualify was Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who effectively handed the heptathlon title on a plate to teammate Jessica Ennis-Hill after a meltdown in that event's long jump on Sunday when she failed to register a jump.

"My three fouls in the heptathlon long jump - well that happened, there is nothing I can do about it anymore," said the 22-year-old, who leapt 6.79m to reach the final.

"I have to get over that. After the heptathlon I only rested. The long jump qualification this morning was great. The first jump was a safety jump and then the second was much better, I got the board right and I qualified."