World Junior Coverage - Thursday
Event Recaps by Jim Spier, Photos by Joy Kamani & Video Interviews by Paul Limmer
Weather a bit better this afternoon. A weak sun appeared by the end of the 200 meter semi-finals but the threat of rain later remains.
Men's Pole Vault Final
Anton Ivakin equaled the current world lead in winning at 18-0.5. Places two through four achieved personal bests. American Kyle Ballew (Los Angeles Valley College) tied for seventh at 16-4.75, 4 inches below his personal best. .1. Anton Ivakin Russia 18-0.5 .2. Claudio Stecchi Italy 17-8.5 .3. Andrew Sutcliffe Great Britain 17-6.5 .4. Robert Sobera Poland 17-4.5 .5. Tom Konrad Germany 17-0.75 .6. Pauls Pujats Latvia 16-8.75 .7. Vataily Tsepilov Ukraine 16-4.75 .7. Kyle Ballew USA 16-4.75 .9. Matthew Devereux Great Britain 16-4.75 .10. Marquis Richards Switzerland 16-4.75 .11. Nikita Filippov Kazakhstan 15-11 Nm Richard Lysov Russia Nm Didac Salas Spain Nm Pascal Koehl GermanyWomen's Triple Jump
The favorite did not disappoint. Dailenys Alcantara, the world leader at 47-0.75, led the entire competition, getting her winning jump of 46-2.75 in round 3. Laura Samuel of Great Britain got her country's national record in finishing second (45-1.5).
Women's 100m Hurdle Final
The 2009 World Youth Champion Isabelle Pedersen looked good in the first rounds and did not disappoint here. She survived a late charge by German Jenna Pletsch but held her off, 13.30 to 13.35. The race for the bronze was tight with both Miriam Hehl (Germany) and Danielle Williams (Jamaica) both running 13.46. But Hehl got the nod. Evonne Britton of the US (Penn State), though only .04 out of third, finished sixth. Pederson's time was a national record for Norway.
Women's Discus Final
A great performance by Erin Pendleton of the US (U. of Michigan) who got the silver.
She was in first after two rounds with a best of 175-9. In round 3, Yaime Perez got off a big 183-9 throw which would ultimately be the winning throw. Pendleton improved through rounds 4, 5 and 6 but could not catch Perez. She threw 175-11, then 177-8 and, finally, 180-4.
Final results 1. Yaime Perez Cuba 183-9 2. Erin Pendleton USA 180-4 3. Yuliya Kurylo Ukraine 177-0 4. Kimberly Mulhall Australia 176-5 5. Irina Rodrigues Portugal 173-0 6. Anais Marcadet France 172-9 7. Margaret Satupai Samoa 168-4 8. Lucie Catouillart France 164-5 9. Chunxia Weng China 162-3 10. Jitka Kubelova Czech Republic 157-1 11. Antje Bormann Germany 149-4 Nm Sositina Hakeai New ZealandWomen's 400 Meter Final
This was sort of a wide open race.
Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas, from lane 7, ran a great last quarter of the race to win in 52.52, the fourth fastest time in the world this year. Margaret Etim of Nigeria, the world leader at 51.24, finished second in 53.05. Bianca Razor, running an evenly paced race, came from fifth to third in the last 60 meters, running 53.17. The Americans did not look especially sharp, with Stacey-Ann Smith (U of Texas) finishing fourth in 53.42 and Regina George (U of Arkansas) taking seventh in 53.83.
Men's 400m Final
We expect Kirani James to break 45 seconds each time he runs. He went out very fast and, believe it or not, seemed to have a serious challenge from Marcell Deak Nagy down the homestretch.
It was James to hold on in 45.89 with Nagy at 46.09.
Errol Nolan of the U.S. (U. of Houston), stuck in lane 8, ran an evenly paced race and captured the bronze, running 46.36.
Josh Mance of the U.S. (Chino Hills CA), well back at 200 meters (which is typical of his style of racing) finished well to get fifth in 46.84.
Women's 800 Meter Final
Ajee Wilson tried to get the lead from the gun. She held it tandem with Annet Negesa of Uganda through the first 200 meters which was 27.69. Elena Lavric of Romania and Rose Mary Almanza of Cuba passed Wilson at that point and joined Negesa as a pack of three was formed. Those three passed 400 meters in 57+ with Wilson fifth. The pack started to pull away with Wilson not responding. With 100 meters to go, Wilson put on a spurt but it was well too late. Lavric was the winner in 2:01.85, with Cherono Koech of Kenya in second at 2:02.29 and Negesa third in 2:02.51. Wilson was fifth in 2:04.18 a personal best and improves on her high school leading time.
Women's 3000m Steeplechase Final
Some great stuff, with nine personal bests of the twelve entrants.
The East Africans, of course, took off and separated themselves from the rest of the field after two laps. But Canadian and local Moncton resident, Geneview Lalonde, stayed with them for about four laps before she lost contact.
Eleanor Fulton of the U.S. (Highlands Ranch, CO) clobbered the first water jump and injured herself. She was limping for the rest of the race and finished last in 10:47.72.
Shelby Greaney of the US (Providence) was never in the running. She lost contact early and could manage only 10:27.33 for tenth. But it was Purity Kirui of Kenya running #10 all-time at 9:36.34. The first 8 all had personal bests, and Lalonde was the first person in the "Americas area" to break 10:00, obviously setting a Canadian national record of 9:57.74 and finishing sixth. Gesa Krause of Germany broke up the East African sweep by passing Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia down the home stretch to set a German record of 9:47.78 and finishing fourth.
Men's 200m Semi-Finals (First 2 in each heat and next 2 fastest advance to the Final)
Semi 1 (+2.1) — Oliver Bradwell (East, Wichita, KS) looked very good, especially after not looking especially good in round 1. He was battling Wayde Van Niekerk of South Africa in the lane next to him the entire race. Van Niekerk ran 21.05 to 21.12 for Bradwell. But Aaron Brown made a late charge over in lane 6 to nip Bradwell for second and the auto qualifier. Both Brown and Bradwell ran 21.12.
Oliver Bradwell
Semi 2 (+2.0) — Aliaksandr Linnik of Belarus, who looked so good in the prior round, cruised his country's Junior record at 20.81. He should be in the medal hunt. Semi 3 (+2.3) — The World Junior leader, Shota Iizuka, showed why he is with an impressive win. His 20.93 bested the field and the other auto qualifier, Pavel Maslak of the Czech Repulic who ran 21.07. Eric Harris of the US (U. of Georgia) looked good for 100 meters but could not keep up with the top group and finished fifth in 21.23. Qualifiers for the final
Wayde Van Niekerk South Africa 21.05Aaron Brown Canada 21.12
Aliaksnadr Linnik Belarus 20.81
Moriba Morain Trinidad 21.03
Shota Iizuba Japan 20.93
Pavel Maslak CzechRepublic 21.07
Robin Erewa Germany 21.08
Mateusz Beigajlo Poland 21.08
Women's 200m Semi-Finals (First 2 in each heat and next 2 fastest advance to the Final)
Semi 1 (+1.3) — Jodie Williams (Great Britain) paced herself nicely to just win over Jamille Samuel (Netherlands), 23.20 to 23.21, with both qualifying automatically. Ashton Purvis of the US, again running in lane 8, finished third in 23.48 and hopes to get an auto qualifier.
Ashton Purvis checks the results board after her 3rd place in semi-final
Semi 2 (+1.8) — Allison Peter (US Virgin Island) is the first US citizen so far to make the final, winning easily in 23.68 Semi 3 (+1.6) — Stormy Kendrick of the US (Clemson) led from the gun and looked very strong, running 23.28, a personal best. It appears that she will be in the medal hunt. Ashton Purvis will advance as a time qualifier
Stormy Kendrick
Qualifiers for the final
Jodie Williams Great Britain 23.20
Jamille Samuel Netherlands 23.21
Allison Peter US Virgin Islands 23.68
Kana Ichikawa Japan 23.86
Stormy Kendrick USA 23.28
Emily Diamond Great Britain 23.47
Ashton Purvis USA 23.48
Kai Selvon Trinidad 23.51
The day begins with torrential rains that don't look they will let up for a while. In fact, the Women's pole vault qualifying has been postponed until 9:30am tomorrow (Friday). The balance of the morning's events will continue as normal (such as normal is!).
Strange things at the 2010 World Juniors This is my twelfth World Junior championships. I've been to them all except for the inaugural one in Athens in 1986. Here are some things I have never witnessed at a world championship event: - No results were available on the IAAF web site on Day 2 and part of Day 3. Technical difficulties were noted. - The wind gauge apparently was not aligned properly for all but the 100 meter finals on Day 3. All of the wind readings for the other races became invalid. - In the Womens' Hammer qualifying, there are two Italian women in Group A. It is the standard to split those competing for the same country into different qualifying groups - This may be coincidental, but in four of the six qualifying heats (heats 3 through 6) in the Women's 200 meters, the fastest seed was in lane 8. Those are technical issues not necessarily attributable to the Moncton LOC who have been tremendous in their presentation.Men's Javelin Qualifying
Group A — The event was delayed for about 2 hours to allow for better conditions, but the rain did not subside all that much. Interestingly, only auto qualifiers came out of this group, including World Junior leader Till Woschler (258-0) who threw 238-9 on his first throw. The leader was ZIgismunds Sirmais of Latvia at close to the world lead, 255-9. Derek Eager (Tahoma, Kent, WA) was well off qualifying (and his personal best of 230-5), throwing 198-4 for 13th in the group Group B — Joseph Zimmerman (U. of Washington) had the third best throw of the competition here at 230-1, not too far off his PB of 238-4 (he has been very consistent over 230 feet this year). The leading thrower in this group was Dmitri Tarabin of Russia at 233-2 Qualifiers to the Final Group A Zigismunds Sirmais Latvia 255-9 Till Woschler Germany 238-9 Genki Dean Japan 236-10 Group B Dimitri Tarabin Russia 233-2 Thomas Rohler Germany 233-1 Joseph Zimmerman USA 230-1 Daniel Pembroke Great Britain 227-10 Caleb Jones Canada 227-7 Chao-Tsun Cheng Taipai 222-9Women's Hammer Throw Qualifying
Group A — The event has to have been affected by the torrential rains. In fact, officials are mopping the circle in between shows. The big surprise was the three fouls by world leader Yirisleydi Ford of Cuba. She was the favorite, coming into the competition with a best of 218-11. Sophie Hitchon of Great Britain got an automatic qualifier (200-1 or better) on her first attempt, throwing 204-5. Shelby Ashe of the US (St. Pius X, Atlanta, GA), ranked fifth in the world at 214-4, had a bad day, managing only 165-11 and 13th in the group. Group B — Li Zhang, the #2 junior in the world coming in at 217-5, got the auto qualifier on her first attempt, throwing 210-0. Lauren Chambers (USC) had only one legal throw, 151-0, well below her bests. She had been consistently near or better than 200' all season. Qualifiers: Group A Sophie Hitchon Great Britain 204-5 Yingying Wang China 188-9 Katja Vangsnes Norway 181-4 Elina Uustalo Finland 176-1 Elisa Magni Italy 176-1 Group B Li Zhang China 210-0 Barbara Spiler Croatia 187-5 Jenni Penttila Finland 184-9 Bianca Lazar Fazecas Romania 179-0 Ayla Gill New Zealand 177-8 Cintia Gergelics Hungary 176-9 Dagmara Stala Poland 175-2Men's 200m Qualifying (6 heats: First 2 in each heat and the next 6 advance to the Semi-Finals).
Heat 1 (+0.2) — Wayde Van Niekerk of South Africa led from the gun to win in 21.10. Eric Harris (Georgia), the top seed in this race at 20.92, was second in 21.22 to qualify automatically.
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Eric Harris
Heat 2 (+0.7) —Shota Iizuka of Japan had an easy time of it winning in 21.13.
Heat 3 (+0.7) — Roy Schmidt of Germany won in a close race in 21.21
Heat 4 (+0.5) — Three disqualifications in this race (false starts), including one for 100 Meter champion Dexter Lee, changed the complexion of this race. It was won by Robin Erewa of Germany in 21.14.
Heat 5 (+0.9) — Aliaksandr Linnik of Belarus, coming in with a 20.91 best, won easily in 21.14. Oliver Bradwell (East, Wichita, Kansas), in lane 8, had great start and ran a great turn, got passed down the homestretch and seemed to let up with 5 meters remaining, costing him the automatic qualifier. We'll see if he can hang on for one of the 6 time qualifiers. At the moment he is in good shape.
Women's Long Jump Qualifying
One American got through, Karyn Dunn of Stanford at 19-2.5. Andrea Geubelle (Kansas) could manage only 18-8.75, one spot out of getting to the finals. We were surprised that the event was not postponed given the wet nature of the venue. The results show the affect of the bad weather. The qualifiers: Irisdaymi Herrera Cuba 19-9 Wupin Wang China 19-4 Ekaterina Khalyutina Russia 19-0 Meruska Eduarda Neth Antilles 18-10.5 Darya Ahmedova Uzbehkistan 18-10.5 Anna Yermakova Ukraine 18-10.5 Chantel Malone British Virgin Islands 19-11 Marharyta Tverdohlib Ukraine 19-2.75 Marina Kraushofer Austria 19-2.5 Karynn Dunn USA 19-2.5 Brooke Stratton Australia 19-2 Sveinbjorg Zophoniasdottir Iceland 19-0Men's 400m Hurdles Semi-Finals (First 2 in each heat and the next 2 fastest advance to the final)
Heat 1 — Leslie Murray of the US Virgin Islands ran well through 9 hurdles. He began to run out of steam at the point at which he was passed by ultimate winner Stef Vanhaeren of Belgium who won in a PB 50.91. Murray, who will be a sophomore at Delaware State U in the fall and graduated from High Point HS in Beltsville, MD in 2009, was second in 51.25 to automatically qualify. Heat 2- A bad run for Sheroid Evans (Dulles, Sugar Land, TX) who was second through 7 hurdles. He faded badly after that. Takatoshi Abe of Japan led throughout and won in 50.45.
Sheroid Evans
Heat 3 — Jehue Gordon (Trinidad), the world junior leader, was the class of the field winning easily in 50.54. Qualifiers to the final Stef Vanhaeren Belgium 50.91 Leslie Murray US Virgin Islands 51.25 Takatoshi Abe Japan 50.45 Varg Konigsmark Germany 50.91 Jehue Gordon Trinidad 50.54 Jack Green Great Britain 51.14 Emir Bekric Serbia 50.91 Boniface Mucheru Kenya 51.22Womens Heptathlon - hurdles
Alex Gouchenour and Ashley Smith
Women's 200m Qualifying (6 heats: First 3 in each heat and the next 6 fastest advance to the Semi-Finals) [The rain continues to come down heavily. It's quite amazing the athletes are running as fast as they are. The track is, for the most part, flooded]
Heat 1 (2.0) — A good run for Allison Peter (US Virgin Islands). She won in 23.62. Peter was fifth in this year's New Balance Nationals and certainly looked like she was training through for this event (She was third in the 2009 Nike Outdoor Nationals to Chalanda Goodman and Octavius Freeeman in both the 100m and 200m). Barbara Leonicio of Brazil, a finalist in the 100 meters last night was second in 23.75. Heat 2 (+0.2) — Stormy Kendrick of the US (Clemson) led from the gun to win in 23.75.
Stormy Kendricks
Heat 3 (+0.5) — It did not look like Ashton Purvis of the US (St. Elizabeth, Oakland, CA) was running a relaxed race in order to qualify in the top 3. In fact, it appeared that she was struggling a bit. Nonetheless she did become an auto qualifier (24.26) in a race won by Anthonique Strachan of Bahamas in 23.66. Heat 4 (+0.7) — The 100 meter champion, Jodie Williams (Great Britain), running in land 8, had a relaxed win, running 23.79. Heat 5 (+0.8) — Kai Selvon of Trinidad won from lane 8 with a time of 23.58, fastest time of the day to this point. Heat 6 (+0.5) — Jamille Samuel (Netherlands), third in last night's 100 meter final, won easily from lane 8 in the fastest time of the day, 23.56.Women's 400m Hurdles Round 1 (3 heats: First 2 in each heat and the next 2 fastest advance to the final)
Heat 1 — The World Junior leader, Katsiaryna Artsiukh of Belarus looks to be the one to beat, running an easy 57.52. Ristananna Tracey of Jamaica, who we saw at the Penn Relays the last few years was second in 58.61. Heat 2 — Evonne Britton (Penn State) led for the first half of the race but was overtaken by Vera Rudakova of Russia who won in 58.52. Britton was second in 59.62 to automatically qualify
Evionne Britton
Heat 3 — Shiori Maki of Japan, coming in with a 57.53 best, appeared to be the one to beat here. She won in 58.45. Christina Holland, struggling most of the race, put on a surge over the last hurdle. It appeared that she would grab the second auto spot but was caught at the end by Canadian Kelsey Balkwell. Holland did get a "time" qualifier.
Christina Holland
Note that the four 400m hurdlers on the US team all went to high school in Texas. Evonne Britton Penn State Chapin, El Paso Christina Holland Baylor Judson, Converse Sheroid Evans Dulles, Sugar Land Steven White North Texas Ellison, Killeen
