This evening’s session of the IAAF World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, saw five British athletes competing in the finals of the women’s100m, men’s 1500m and men’s 110 Hurdles.
Women’s captain for the Championships, Imani Lansiquot (coach: Jonas Tawiah-Dodoo) was fourth in the 100m but was unable to repeat her personal best form from yesterday finishing in 11.37 (+0.9).
Hannah Brier (Neal Merry), who had equalled her personal best of 11.39 in the semi-final earlier in the evening, finished sixth in 11.60 (+0.9). The Swansea athlete said “I came into the competition ranked twelfth in the world and have finished sixth so I am so happy. I was a little disappointed with the time but running a PB in the semi took it out of me, perhaps more than I thought. I came here wanting to get to the final and I have done that so it is a really successful champs for me.”
In the men’s 110 Hurdles final James Weaver (Laura Turner-Alleyne) finished seventh in 13.51 (+0.2) with Matt Treston (Adrian Brown) coming in eighth in 13.55 (+0.2). Despite being grazed from falling across the line during his dip, Treston reflected “I am not too disappointed. It was my second fastest race ever and I executed well at the start. I hit a few hurdles and couldn’t quite stay with the field but I am humbled to be here and have reached the final. I have really enjoyed the experience.”
European Junior Champion Josh Kerr (Joe Franklin) could not repeat his win here finishing tenth in the 1500m final. The Edinburgh AC athlete found himself boxed in at the bell and had too much to do on the final lap.
He said, “I missed the chance there. There are no excuses, I am not tired. It is not as if I raced my heart out; I raced bad. I am gutted but I will learn from it.”
In the men’s 200m semi-finals Cameron Tindle (Henry Gray) secured his place in tomorrow’s final with a new lifetime best of 20.71 to finish fourth in his heat going through as one of the two fastest qualifiers. The Edinburgh athlete will hope to build on his eighth place in last year’s IAAF World Youth Championships.
He said “It is the fastest I have ever run so I can’t complain although I feel I could go faster. I think I did everything right. I ran a better bend than in the heat and I stayed relaxed coming down the straight. I am very happy with a PB and my performance.”
Ryan Gorman (Karen Buck) finished third in his semi-final in 20.91 but does not progress. Both Gorman and Tindle had cruised through to the semis with new personal bests this morning. In near perfect conditions, Gorman won his heat comfortably breaking his lifetime best to finish in 20.84.
Also in the morning session, European Junior Champion, Adam Hague (Trevor Fox) safely negotiated the pole vault qualification taking just two jumps to progress to Saturday’s final. Hague, who has recovered from a nasty hand injury cleared 5.10m and 5.20m.
Afterwards he said: “It was a very nice day which is really helpful for the pole vault. Two jumps is all it took so I am really happy. It is a great stadium with a fast track so I am hoping for another nice day on Saturday. It is good to get through with fewer jumps and conserve my energy for the final.”
Charlie Myers (Chris Boundy) finished 18th after three failures at 5.20m so unfortunately will not progress.
In the men’s semi-finals of the 400m Cameron Chalmers (Daniel Cossins) had a great run from lane nine to earn a new personal best of 46.51. Unfortunately the Guernsey athlete just missed out on progressing to the final.
After the race, he understandably had mixed emotions, “A time of 46.1 is a fair chunk off my PB and from lane nine so seeing no-one until 120 or 130m to go. It is a completely different run from there.”
Follow the IAAF World Junior Championships via https://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-u20-championships/iaaf-world-u20-championships-bydgoszcz-2016-5680/live or on Eurosport 2.
