Boise native and Bishop Kelly High graduate Nick Symmonds advanced to the semifinals of the men's 800-meter run at the London Olympics on Monday. Symmonds, a five-time U.S. national champion, finished first in his qualifying heat to advance to Tuesday's semifinal (12:55 p.m. MT).

There were seven heats and the top three in each advanced automatically to one of three semifinals. Eight men will advance to Thursday's final.

Symmonds as usual used a late-finishing kick to beat the field and finished in 1 minute, 45.91 seconds. Kenya's David Rudisha, the world-record holder and the heavy gold medal favorite, qualified for the semifinals in 1:45.90. American Duane Solomon won his heat to qualify for the semifinals as well.

Symmonds, 28, reached the semifinals in the 2008 Beijing Games. He has qualified for the finals in the last two world championships.

In the men's discus, former Boise State All-American and two-time Olympian Jarred Rome failed to qualify for the finals. He recorded only one official throw (out of a possible three attempts) and produced a mark of 195 feet, 5 inches. Rome would have advanced with a toss of 208-7. The 35-year-old finished 17th in his group (only 12 of 41 athletes qualified for Tuesday's finals, none of them Americans).