Dutchman's nightman World Champs continues, although Jakob Ingebrigtsen's Tokyo experience improves as he scrapes into the final

Niels Laros was wheeled out of the arena by medics with an ice bag on his leg after pulling up in his 5000m heat. Jakob Ingebrigtsen, meanwhile, needed to pull out all the stops to get through to Sunday's final, whereas Cole Hocker, George Mills, Grant Fisher and 10,000m winner Jimmy Gressier all got through safely.

Nothing is guaranteed at these most unpredictable of world championships.

Laros was following Fisher when the American made a mid-race surge in the second heat, but then he suddenly dropped back grimacing and pulled up a few seconds later, his championships over. After finishing a disappointing fifth in the 1500m final, the 20-year-old will now head back to the Netherlands to find out what went wrong in Tokyo.

Ingebrigtsen’s fortunes improved a little on Friday night, though, when he made it through as the eighth and final qualifier in the same heat as Laros. The overall time was only 13:42.15 but the world and Olympic champion was pleased to scrape through after having exited in the 1500m heats earlier in the week.

"I gave my all. I am not myself. I had to do what I could today,” the Norwegian said. “I was not sure would I make the final but here I am. I don't have any idea what I am going to do in the final. I will try my best. Can it be a medal for Norway? I don't know, maybe. We will see.”

Fisher, Mills and Gressier also progressed in the same heat as Miniam Behary of Ethiopia led the way with 13:41.52.

Gressier said: "My legs were heavy after the 10,000m final but I feel in top shape now. I am glad we had a slower race. I will fight until the end in the final. I recovered quickly from the 10,000m and I need to do the same after this one. I am delighted to have three French men in the final. We will support each other and play our cards to the max.”

Mills was chatting with Ingebrigtsen during the early stages of the heat but said he couldn’t remember what it was about out. He said: "I think heats are always deceptive. You want to save as much energy as possible and just get through it without too many issues. And I think I managed to do that today.

"I had to run a little bit wider than I'd want to in places just to get the position, but I was where I wanted to be when it picked up, because once it picks up, it's hard to close the gaps.

“So I wanted to be there and just be ready to qualify on the top eight."

On hanging at the back early in the race, he said: "It's just my race plan and knowing what cues I want to move with and how I want to set up myself and where I feel the most comfortable, it’s something that works for me.”

READ MORE: Jimmy Gressier storms to 10,000m gold

The other heat was won by Isaac Kimeli of Belgium in 13:13.06 as Americans Hocker and Nico Young also got through. Among the athletes to exit, though, was Andreas Almgren, the European record-holder who was third in the 10,000m a few days earlier, led in the latter stages but wound up ninth in 13:16.38 and on the plane home to Sweden.

Kimeli said: "For me this was a big victory. Winning my heat is a big deal, being in the stadium, and with a lot of people watching. It gives me a lot of confidence. I hope I will be good in the final. Today we got lucky because the weather was not so hot.

"We have seen surprises all through the championships - in the 1500m, the steeplechase, even the marathon. Everybody can win. Maybe if I believe in myself I can make it."