Navasky Anderson became the first Jamaican male to reach the final of the men’s 800m at the World Championship, finishing third in his semi-final in a new national record of 1:43.72.

The closest a Jamaican came to reaching the final was in 1993 when Clive Terrelonge finished third in his semi-final in 1:45.75 and narrowly missed out. He was ninth best.

Anderson, who called himself the “People’s Champion”, ran the race of his life, showing his tactical awareness as he positioned himself perfectly, avoiding all the traffic and surged for the line brilliantly.

He was just behind world champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya, who was second in 1:43.47 and winner Mohamed Attaqui of Spain in 1:43.18.

It was double joy for Anderson, who lost his Jamaican record to Tyrice Taylor last month at the NACAC Championship, a race in which he competed.

Meanwhile, there was no such luck for his compatriot, Taylor, who ran a tactically bad race and got bumped, blocked, and had no legs in the final 100 metres, finishing seventh in his semifinals in 1:46.56.

It was a far cry from his personal best of 1:43.74 set in August when he was in front of Anderson.

However, Taylor was also part of history, as it was the first time Jamaica had two runners in the semi-final, and they will be back.