All three American women -- Shelby Houlihan, Shannon Rowbury, and Molly Huddle -- advanced to the IAAF World Championships 5K final to be held on Sunday night in London. 

The first heat saw Rowbury outkick Kenya's Sheila Kiprotich for the last automatic qualifying spot -- 14:57.55 to 14:57.58 -- as gold medal favorites Hellen Obiri of Kenya and Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia, who has already won the 10K here in London, clocked leading times of 14:56.7 and 14:57.06.

Shannon Rowbury got the auto qualifier by .03 #London2017 https://t.co/MNHw1oTfnx pic.twitter.com/8EjLbGIdN7

— FloTrack (@FloTrack) August 10, 2017

The second heat was without one top competitor in Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba, the world record holder for 1500m, who finished dead last in the final for that event on Monday night. She is reportedly ill, but it is unknown whether or not she is suffering from the highly contagious norovirus that has derailed several top athletes at these championships.

U.S. 10K champion Huddle, who placed eighth in the 10K final a few days ago, took the lead in heat two just after 800m and ran well ahead of the field until the final 200m, when the lead pack kicked past her. American 5K champion Houlihan was part of that pack and finished in third to automatically qualify with a new personal best of 15:00.37, while Huddle faded to seventh, though her 15:03.6 finishing time was well ahead of the 15:14 needed to make the final.

"I just wanted to get it going at 15-minute pace because I knew from history that 15 minutes usually gets in," Huddle said to Lewis Johnson of NBC after the race. "I don't feel confident in my kick right now. In hindsight, it's really scary to get stuck out there by yourself. It was stupid. I'm lucky to get in."

Women's 5K finalists:

RANK	ATHLETE	COUNTRY	MARK
1	Hellen Obiri	Kenya	14:56.70Q
2	Almaz Ayana	Ethiopia	14:57.06Q
3	Senbere Teferi	Ethiopia	14:57.23Q
4	Susan Krumins	Netherlands	14:57.33Q
5	Shannon Rowbury	USA	14:57.55Q
6	Letesenbet Gidey	Ethiopia	14:59.34Q
7	Sifan Hassan	Netherlands	14:59.85Q
8	Shelby Houlihan	USA	15:00.37Q
9	Eilish McColgan	UK	15:00.38Q
10	Margaret Kipkemboi	Kenya	15:00.39Q
11	Sheila Kiprotich	Kenya	14:57.58q
12	Laura Muir	UK	14:59.34q
13	Karoline Grovdal	Norway	15:00.44q
14	Molly Huddle	USA	15:03.60q
15	Kalkidan Gezahegne	Bahrain	15:07.19q