Duane Solomon’s coach, Johnny Gray, devised an aggressive race plan for the 800 meter final: Take it out hard and build up a lead.

That’s exactly what Solomon did,  clocking opening splits of 25.26-52.60 through the first two laps.   Even with one lap to go, Solomon held a significant gap on defending U.S. champion Nick Symmonds and the chase pack.  At that point, OTC Elite teammates Symmonds and Tyler Mulder cut into his advantage, but Solomon held a lead into the home stretch.  But with his patented strong finish, Symmonds had too much for Solomon, with them finishing in 1:48.10 and 1:48.41, respectively.  Mulder finished just back in third with a time of 1:48.53

“I felt good, I felt good the whole way. And I knew at the bell lap that Nick (Symmonds) would be coming,” explained Solomon.  ”It would have been nice to win, but I am glad to make the team.”

A finalist at the last Indoor World Championships in Valencia, Symmonds is excited to vie for a medal in Doha.  ”I made it very smoothly through the rounds in Valencia and would like to run similar to that. Provided I make the finals, I feel I have a very good shot.”

One person absent from the final was Khadevis Robinson.  KD cruised through his prelim heat and did not appear to be injured, but was a scratch for Sunday’s final.

1 Nick Symmonds                Nike/OTC Elite         1:48.10
2 Duane Solomon                Saucony                1:48.41
3 Tyler Mulder                 Nike/OTC Elite         1:48.53
4 Brian Gagnon                 unattached             1:49.66
5 Mark Wieczorek               Oregon TC Elite        1:49.73
- Khadevis Robinson            Nike                       DNS