Van Dalen misses 1500m, eyes 5000m gold

LUCKLESS LUCY: Expat Wanganui runner Lucy van Dalen (rear) has missed a finals spot in the 1500m at the Commonwealth Games.

Talented expat Wanganui athlete Lucy van Dalen has missed a spot in the 1500-metres final at the Commonwealth Games.

She failed to make the final after finishing seventh in her heat in a time of 4:14.86, and well shy of her compatriot Nikki Hamblin, who posted the second fastest time of the heats when stopping the clock at 4.05.08, cutting two seconds from her season's best.

The Van Dalen heat was a roughly run affair, prompting Australia's leading medal hope Zoe Buckman to lodge a protest.

Buckman spectacularly bombed in the heat, finishing sixth, but lodged a protest after being hampered at the bell by another runner.

Buckman stumbled and almost fell when she was grabbed on the arm by Kenyan Selah Busienei but, after a 30-minute deliberation, the IAAF race jury threw out her appeal.

While it brought Buckman undone, the fast opening heat carried her two Australian teammates, Melissa Duncan and Kaila McKnight, into the final as fastest qualifiers.

The incident did not appear to interrupt Van Dalen's performance.

Meanwhile, the pain of the past four years faded for Hamblin as she produced another solid performance at the Commonwealth Games.

Hamblin has endured a torrid time since double silver in Delhi, with a spate of injury problems causing her to question her future in middle-distance running.

But all the hurt would have been forgotten, for a few minutes at least, as Hamblin qualified second-fastest for the final of the 1500m at Glasgow's Hampden Park.

Set to run at the London Olympics, Hamblin suffered heel pain, eventually determined to be bone spurs, that kept her from the Games.

A torn Achilles came the same year, but now the 26-year-old is back and ready to attempt a repeat of her feats in Delhi, with heats in the 800m set for tomorrow.

Van Dalen gets another shot at gold when she contests the 5000m at the weekend.