Algerian runner Djamel Sajjati won silver in the 800m at the 18th World Championships in Athletics in Eugene, USA.

Sajati, who won the gold medal at the Mediterranean Games hosted by his country last month, shortened the race with a time of 1:44.14 minutes, trailing Kenyan Olympic gold medalist Emmanuel Carrier in 1:43.71. and ahead of Canadian Marco Arup, bronze winner (1:44.28 min.).

This is Algeria’s second World Championship silver after Tawfik Makhloufi’s 1500m silver at the last round in Doha in 2019, and his country’s eleventh World Championship silver, including 6 golds and 3 bronzes.

It is also the third medal for the Arabs in the current draw after the gold of Qatar’s Moataz Barshim (high jump) and Moroccan Sofiane El Bakkali (3m hurdles) last Monday, bringing the Arabs to 79 medals.

And his compatriot Suleiman Mavla took fifth place with a time of 1:44.85 minutes.

“I am pleased with this achievement, although I was hungry for gold, but the important thing is that I won one of the three medals, and this made the hearts of Algerians and Arabs happy,” Sajati said.

“It was a strong race and my plan worked to watch it before I hit the final meters and take silver.”

He expressed his disappointment that his compatriot Mola did not finish in the top three and said: “He was nervous, we agreed before the race to stay behind and watch the Kenyans, but he took the lead from the beginning, the coaches’ plan could have changed.”

“The most important thing is that we won at least a medal for our country and we are proud of that,” he said.

Sajati ran the race with great intelligence as he was left behind, leaving the initiative to the rest of the runners, while his compatriot Molly took the lead from the start and paid dearly at the end with a fifth place finish.

Sajati waited for the last 200 meters to start quickly, especially after the Courier increased the pace of the race and the Algerian managed to win against the Canadian Arup and take the silver from him in the last two meters.

Sajati and Mawla were leading their groups’ qualifiers in the first and semi-final rounds and they were confident that they would regain the world title in the distance after their compatriot Jaber Saeed Al-Qarni did so in the 2003 Paris Championships knowing that he won the bronze in the 1999 season in Seville.

In the javelin throw event, Egyptian Ehab Abdel Rahman disappointed by finishing in last twelfth place in the javelin throw event throwing just 75.99m.