Belgium's Alexander Doom reaches 400m semi-finals with personal best

Belgium's Alexander Doom qualified for the semi-finals of the 400m on Sunday at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, with a personal best. Fellow Belgian Dylan Borlée is also through to the semi-finals, as one of the fastest losers.

The three fastest runners in each of six heats as well as the six best losing times overall booked their places in the semi-finals. Borlée ran 45.24 in the third heat, good for fourth place. He secured a place in the semi-finals, albeit narrowly.

Doom finished second in the sixth heat with a solid improvement on his personal record. This put him straight through to the semi-finals. Doom's 44.92 also put him under the 45.00 limit for qualification for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

The semi-finals are scheduled for Tuesday evening and the final will take place on Thursday evening.

Borlée, 30, has a personal best of 45.09, set in Madrid last month. Doom, 26, set his previous best time of 45.28 at the same time, but this time he was well below that. Jonathan Borlée, brother of Dylan, has held the Belgian record (44.43) since 2012.

^{Alexander Doom © BELGA PHOTO ERIC LALMAND}