Caster Semenya finishes in 13th place in the 5,000 meters at world championships, does not advance

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In one way, this race was like so many in the past for Caster Semenya. When she crossed the finish line, there wasn't anyone near her.

This race, though, was the 5,000 meters — not her specialty, the 800 — and when Semenya crossed the line all alone, she was in 13th place.

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Caster Semenya, of South Africa, competes during a heat in the women's 5000-meter run at the World Athletics Championships on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, in Eugene, Ore.  (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

She failed to advance through the opening heat at world championships Wednesday, an expected result for the South African who is barred from her best event because of rules that demand she take hormone-reducing drugs to enter races between 400 meters and one mile.

Semenya finished the 12 1/2-lap race — run in blistering 91-degree (32 Celsius) heat — in 15 minutes, 46.12 seconds, 54 seconds behind the winner, Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia. Given the circumstances, Semenya said this did not feel like defeat, and she was nowhere near giving up.

"I think it is great to be able to run here," she said. "Just being able to finish the 5K, for me, it is a blessing. I am learning and I am willing to learn even more. It was hot, I could not keep up with the pace, I tried to stick as much as I can. But it is a part of the game."

Semenya lost an appeal of a World Athletics regulation that made women with certain intersex condition ineligible in races between 400 meters and a mile. Since 2019, she hasn't raced in a major 800-meter race, the event in which she has won two Olympic and three world titles.

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Caster Semenya