Niels Laros finished just out of the medals in the final of the men’s 1500m at the world athletics championships as Portugal’s Isaac Nader upset the odds to take gold.

The 20-year-old Diamond League winner, seen as one of the best Dutch prospects for gold in Tokyo, made the pace in the early laps and looked well placed for victory going into the final straight, but faded to fifth place in a time of 3:34.52.

Nader pipped British athlete Jake Wightman on the line by just 2/100ths of a second, with Kenya’s Reynold Cheruiyot edging out his brother Timothy for bronze.

Laros was visibly disappointed as he told NOS how he faded in the final metres. “I’ve shown this season that I can go for gold. I really believed in it and it’s what I came her for. It’s very tough,” he said.

“I was in the right position to win but I just didn’t have the legs I had in the rest of the season. That’s really hard to take.”

Bol qualifies

Earlier in the day Femke Bol cruised to the final of the women’s 400m hurdles, where she is the favourite for the gold medal, winning her semi-final by nearly a second.

“It felt pretty easy,” Bol said after clocking a time of 52.31 seconds. “The idea is to go faster in the final.”

Xavi Mo-Ajok qualified for the semi-finals of the men’s 200m in a time of 20.35 behind Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo. But Marije van Hunenstijn was unable to progress from the heats in the women’s event.