Day 3 Afternoon Session
Women
200m - Semifinals
Race 1 - Nickeisha Anderson of Jamaica, a finalist at the last World Juniors, took this heat in 23.55, winning handily. Aurelie Kamga of France barely edged a fast-closing Shana Cox ( Penn State; Holy Trinity HS, Hicksville, NY '03), 23.89 to 23.90. The top 2 of the 3 heats automatically qualify, with 2 more qualifiers based on time. Shana will have to wait and see if she gets into the final after the next 2 heats.
Race 2 - Shalonda Solomon had a bit of a contest from Kelly-Ann Baptiste of Trinidad, one lane to Shalonda's left. But Solomon (Poly, Long Beach, CA) pulled away down to home stretch to win in a creditable 23.13. Baptiste was second in 23.53. Third was Sara Bettke of Germany in 24.23, so Shana Cox's time qualifier looks like it might happen.
Race 3- 2002 World Junior runnerup Anneisha McLaughlin had no problem in this heat, winning in 23.41. Nigerian Seyi Omojuwa gave her a bit of a scare on the turn, but faded to third, running 23.81. Coming up strong in lane 2 was the German Maike Dix, running 23.76 to take second. Shana Cox makes it in to the final based on time.
400m Final
Ashlee Kidd (Georgia Tech; St. Petersburg HS, FL '03) shared the lead with Natasha Hastings (AP Randolph HS, New York, NY) through 300 meters, with Kidd slightly leading by that point. Hastings then took over with Kidd beginning to fade. Kidd tried to hang on for second but was outleaned at the end by Jamaica's Sonita Sutherland. Sutherland ran 52.41 to Kidd's 52.45. Hastings ran the fastest race of her life in winning, clocking 52.04, and capping off a great high school career. She's off to the U. of South Carolina in the fall.
400m Hurdles Final
Katya Kostetskaya, the favorite, lagged behind slightly during the first half of the race, being led at the point by Angela Morasanu of Romania, with Nicole Leach (West Catholic, Philadelphia, PA) in second. It was as if the rest of the field stood still as Kostetskaya bolted into the lead, establishing a large margin between she and the rest of the field. She won in 55.55, a World Junior leader. Second was Zuzana Hejnova of the Czech Republic, getting her nation's Junior record at 57.44. Just edging Leach for third was Sherene Pinnock of Jamaica, with Pinnock running 57.54 and Leach 57.56, both times being personal bests.
3000m Steeplechase Final
This was a battle between the Kenyans and the Romanians. Both Kenyans, Gladys Jerotich Kipkemoi and Mercy Wanjiku Njoroge were shoeless. Kipkemoi held most of the lead and finished first in 9:47.26, the second fastest ever run for a junior. Romanian Ancuta Bobocel moved into second with 3 laps to go and stayed there, running 9:49.03, #3 all-time. Her countrywomen Catalina Oprea swapped positions with Njoroge over the last 2 laps, with Oprea finishing third in 9:50.04 with Njoroge fourth in 9:52.25. As one can imagine, given the "newness" of this event, all sorts of records were set. They included those for Africa, Europe and of South America. All told there were 7 national junior records by those finishing in the top 12.
Triple Jump Final
Erica Mc Lain (East HS, Plano, TX) injured herself early and could only manage 42-3.5, good enough for 11th place. Anastasiya Taranova ( Russia) got her big mark on her first jump, and the 45-9 held up for the win. It is also the current World Junior Leader. Limei Xie of China moved into second on her second jump (44-9.75) then improved through jumps four (45-1.75) and five (45-2.25) to cement her second place medal. World leader prior to Taranova (45-5.25), Tatyana Yalovleva of Russia managed 44-10.25 on her fifth jump for third place.
Javelin Final
Germans took 1-2 here, with Vivian Zimmer getting the meet record with a throw of 191-11, that coming on her second throw. Teammate Annika Suthe threw 187-6 for second. Annabel Thomson of Australia pushed France's Doriane Gilibert out of medal contention on her last throw, tossing the spear 183-9, an Australian Junior Record.
Men
200m - Semifinals
Race 1 - Andrew Howe picked up where he left off this morning, blasting a 20.72 National Record. He passed Canadian Hank Palmer with 30 meters to go, with Palmer getting a PB 20.81. When Howe passed Palmer, Palmer seemed to pretend he was letting up to coast in for the second-place automatic qualifier, though, in reality, he was handily beaten by the "hot" Howe.
Race 2 - Leigh Julius, third-ranked in the world at 20.44, led this race from start to finish, running 20.84. Jamil James of Trinidad, who will be at the U of South Carolina in the fall, got a PB of 20.97 for second. His teammate, Marcus Duncan, who he rarely has beaten, finished third in 21.23 and will have to wait to see if he qualifies on time. Marcus Pugh ( Jenks, OK), from lane1, finished 7th and will not advance.
Race 3 - A very strong race for the two "Brits", with both besting 21 seconds and both getting PB's. Julian Thomas got the win of countryman Rikki Fifton, 20.86 to 20.90. The top four got PB's (Samuel Adade of Ghana - 21.07 and Ivan Teplykh of Russia - 21.12 were the third and fourth place finishers. Carey La Cour (Houston; Humble, TX '03) stumbled at the bottom of the turn with an apparent "pull" of some kind.
400m Final
The big matchup turned out to be one between La Shawn Merritt and the clock. Merritt took control early and never had a serious challenge. Merritt started in lane 4 and rival Nagmedlin Ali Abubakr was 2 lanes to his outside. Through 180 meters, Merritt had made up the stagger on his the Sudanese and began to pull away. He extended his lead significantly down the home stretch, with Obakeng Ngwigwa of Botswana moving up on Abubakr. Abubakr held on for the silver at 45.97, the same time as Ngwigwa, who was edged out for third. Ngwigwa's time was a National Junior Record. Merritt, who had the fastest start of the field by a large margin (.153 seconds reaction time), improved his world junior leading time to 45.25. Keith Hinnant ( Bay Shore, NY) ran a great first half of the race, but faded to 7th, running 46.88.
1500m Final
Wow! There were 2 races here. One with 2 Kenyans and 2 Moroccans and one with the rest of the field. Benson Marrianyi Esho took the early lead and was followed just before the first lap by teammate Brimin Kipruto. Esho passed the 400 meters in 54.70 and 1:52.84, soon to be joined by Moroccans Abdelati Iguider and Mohamed Moustaoui. At about 1000 those four slowed the race down and then they picked it up with 400 meters to go. It was a race to finish from that point on with Iguider passing the 2 Kenyans with 60 meters to go and Esho passing Brimin at that point to get second. It was meet record - 3:35.53, with Esho at 3:35.80 and Kipruto at 3:35.96. David Torrence ( California; Loyola HS, Los Angeles, CA '03) ran a superb race, never panicking. His splits were 57.2, 2:00.8 and 3:09.2. He came on strong at the end to get a 3 second PR, running 3:43.62 for 8th, taking over the US Junior lead. That's close to the equivalent of a four minute mile. It may be the best finish for a US athlete other than Jason Pyrah who finished fifth (3:47.94) in Sudbury in 1988 and Gabe Jennings who finished fifth (3:43.94) in Annecy in 1998.
400m Hurdles - Semifinals
Race 1 - The two best runners in this heat, Yasser Lismet of Cuba and Ibrahim Al-Hamaidi were virtually even for five hurdles, when Al-Hamaidi began to pull away. His 40.55 win was a PB. Richard Davenport of Great Britain, that nation's junior record holder (49.79) overtook Lismet after hurdle 7 and kept that lead to finish second, running 50.20. Also passing Lismet down the home stretch was the Brazilian Diego Vanancio who placed third at 50.85 with Lismet the final qualifier at 50.96.
Race 2 - The best four in the field all happened to wind up in this race. The Americans Brandon Johnson (UCLA; West Orange-Stark HS, TX '03) and Kerron Clement ( Florida; La Porte, TX '03), and the South Africans Louis Van Zyl (World Junior defending champion) and Wouter Le Roux (World Youth Champion). Clement and Johnson are ranked 1-2 in the world and Le Roux and Van Zyl 3-4. Johnson had the lead through 6 hurdles when Clement took over. It was Clement through to the end with Johnson hanging on and Van Zyl taking third and a struggline Le Roux hanging on for fourth. It was Clement at 49.01, Johnson at 49.78, Van Zyl at 50.11 and Le Roux at 50.32. The top four qualify so El Hadji Sethe Mbow of Senegal does not qualify even though he ran a 50.68 National Junior Record.
High Jump Final
This was a battle of few misses, as five athletes cleared the winning height of 7-3. Michael Mason of Canada cleared that height on his first attempt and that would prove to be the winning formula. Marius Hanniske of Germany, the eventual runnerup, was "clean" through 7-1.75 and made 7-3 on his second attempt. Mason had made the opening height of 6-8.75, then missed twice before clearing both 6-10.75 and 7-0.25. He made 7-1.75 on his second attempt, then, as mentioned, made 7-3 on his first attempt, cementing his victory. It was only the second gold medal ever for Canada, the other being won by Mark Boswell, another high jumper in Sydney in 1996.
Hammer Throw - Qualifying
Group A - Two automatic qualifiers (228-0, with the junior weight implement) came out of this group:
Kamilius Bethke Germany 232-11
Mohsen El Anany Egypt 230-9
Nick Owens ( North Carolina; Shelton, WA '03) had a bad day, fouling three times. Two were sector (left) fouls and the other a "foot" foul. Had one of the sector fouls been legal, he probably would have had an automatic qualifier.
Group B - There were four automatic qualifiers from this group:
Olexiy Sokirskiy Ukraine 236-11
Andrey Azarenkov Russia 232-2
Andreas Sahner Germany 232-0
Michael Fiala Czech Republic 228-6
Cory Martin ( Auburn; Edgewood HS, Ellettsville, IN '03) was ninth in the group and did not qualify, having a best throw of 217-10.
Decathlon - Day 2
Andrei Krauchanka of Belarus had as good a second day as he did his first, establishing a new championship record of 8126 points (this with the "new" junior implements). Here are his final stats:
Day 1 4341
100m 11.09
LJ 24-5.75
SP 47-7.25
HJ 7-1
400m 48.98
Day 2 3785
110m hurdles 14.55
Discus 142-5
Pole Vault 14-9.25
Javelin 173-4
1500m 4:28.26
Aleksey Sysoyev of Russia, third after day 1, moved into second on the second day, scoring 8047 points. The second placer yesterday, who got pushed into third today, was German Norman Muller, scoring 7942 points. Americans Chris Helwick and Jangy Addy, teammates at the U. of Tennesse finished 8th and 11th, respectively, scoring 7176 and 7129 points. |
