World championships: Semenya outrun in 5,000 metres

Caster Semenya  failed to advance in the women's 5,000 meters Wednesday at the world championships in Oregon.

The race proved unfamiliar for Semenya, who has been locked out of her best event - 800 metres because of rules that demand she take hormone-reducing drugs which she refuses.

Semenya finished in 15 minutes, 46.12 seconds.

That was 54 seconds behind the winner of the heat, Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia, and 53 seconds outside of the fifth and last automatic qualifying spot into the final.

The only surprise in any of that was that she came to Oregon to compete.

Her personal best in the race is 15:31.50, which is outside the world-championships qualifying standard.

But she moved into the race after some higher-ranked runners did not enter.