Day 6 - Sunday Aug 20

Team USA grabs 3 relay golds
USA Women 43.49 and 3:29.01,
USA Men 3:03.76
Mike Kennedy's Report - Jim Spier's Report - Doug Speck Day 6 - Mike Byrnes' Day 6 Musings -
DAY 6 RESULTS

W-4x400 leg 2 - Brandi Cross passes Nigeria to give USA a lead it never relinquished. photo by Doug Speck

• M-4x400 final - USA 3:03.76 closes the meet in a rout over Russia 3:05.13 with Quentin Summers, Justin Oliver, Bryshon Nellum and Chris Carter. Doug Speck photos
• W-4x400 final - USA 3:29.01 completes a relay double with a decisive victory over Nigeria 3:30.84. Carrying the baton for USA were Jessica Beard, Brandi Cross, Sa'de Williams, and Nicole Leach. Doug Speck photos
• W-4x100 final - USA romped to victory in 43.49, with France 44.20 up the track. The American squad was Jeneba Tarmoh, Alexandria Anderson, Elizabeth Olear and Gabby Mayo. Doug Speck photos
• M-4x100 final - Jamaica 39.05 won a close 3-team battle over USA 39.21 and Great Britain 39.24. USA runners were Evander Wells, Gordon McKenzie, Willie Perry and Brandon Myers. Doug Speck photos
• M-110H final - Darius Reed 13.64 +1.5 is 6th. Artur Noga POL 13.23 was an easy winner.
• W-1500 final - Erin Bedell was 10th with a PB 4:20.01. Irene Jelagat KEN won by nearly 4 seconds in 4:08.88.

Day 6

MEN

5,000 METERS

Tariku Bekele and Abreham Feleke of Ethiopia, Joseph Ebuya of Kenya, all with person best of under 13 minutes, were more than 20 seconds faster than anyone else in the field. With four laps remaining, passed in 9:28, Bekele and Feleke and Ebuya, were indeed, running as a group of three at the front. Then with two and one-half laps remaining, first the Ethiopians broke away from Ebuye and then Bekele pulled away from Feleke for the win, win, 13:31.34 to 13:35.95. Ebuya was third in 13:42.93 and teammate Mang’ata Ndiwa was fourth in 13:44.03.. The last 1,600 was run in 4:03 and the last two kilometers were covered in 5:04.02.

110-METER HIGH HURDLES

Samuel Coco-Viloin of France got out best followed by Konstadinos Douvalidis of Greece and Darius Reed of the U.S. and Washington High in Denver, Colorado. Although Artur Noga of Poland, who had the events fastest time in the field at 13.43, he quickly began to move up and by the ninth hurdle he had caught Coco-Viloin and pulled away for a convincing win in a world-leading 13.23 with an aiding wind of 1.5 meters per second. Coco-Viloin was just able to hold off Douvalidis, 13.35 to 13.39 and Vladimir Zhukov of Russia was fourth at 13.53. Reed was in the middle mix at the start but slowly drifted back to finish seventh in 13.64. It is the fastest time ever run over 39 inch hurdles but since it is a new event for juniors on the international level (39 inch hurdles rather than 42 inches) there will be waiting period for an official world junior record. It is interesting to note that Noga was born in 1988, which would make him comparable to a U.S. high school senior. The U.S. high school record is 13.26 by Arthur Blake of Haines City, Florida in 1984.

4 X 100-METER RELAY

The U.S. running a team of Evander Wells, Gordon McKenzie, Willie Perry and Brandon Meyers, got the lead out of the blocks with Wells. McKenzie and Perry continued to lead but just after the final exchange Yohan Blake of Jamaica sped past Myers to claim the gold in a world-leading 39.05 The U.S. was second in 39.21, when Myers was able to hold off 100-meter champion Harry Aikines-Aryeetey of Great Britain, 39.21 to 39.24.

The finish - USA's Myers on left and Jamaica's Yohan Blake (gold) in center - photo by Doug Speck

4 X 400-METER RELAY Russia took the lead after the first lap but Quenton Summers had kept the U.S. close with an opening leg of 46.1. Justin Oliver, who was second in the 400, then cruised a 45.6 to give the U.S. a lead it never lost. Bryshon Nellum, with a 46.16 and Chris Carter, the gold medalist in the 400 hurdles, closed things out with a 45.72 to post a world junior-leading time of 3:03.76. Russia was second in 3:05.13 and Great Britain edged Kenya at the end, 3:05.49 to 3:05.54. Leg 2 - Justin Oliver opens up a lead that USA held to the end. photo by Doug Speck

WOMEN

1,500 METERS

Irene Jelagat of Kenya was leading at 400 and ran splits of 66.99, 2:17.74 and 3:23.8 before closing with a 45.87 last 300 to win easily in 4:08.88. Teammate Mercy Kosgei trailed Jelagat much of the time and finished in second in 4:12.88 but had to hold off the fast closing Yuriko Kobayashi of Japan, 4:12.88 and Emebet Bedada of Ethiopia, 4:12.99. Erin Bedell of the U.S. and Baylor University ran a gutsy race. After getting out near the front she quickly dropped to the rear of the pack, which for the first half of the race was fairly tight, and saved energy. With one lap remaining she had moved up to tenth and by the final turn of the race had gotten up to sixth. However, the energy expanded was just too much, and from the top of the turn to the finish she drifted back to tenth. Nevertheless she was rewarded with a personal best of 4:20.1.

4 X 100-METER RELAY The United States, running Jeneba Tarmoh out of the blocks followed by Alexandria Anderson, Elizabeth Olear and Gabriella Mayo, trailed Russia only slightly after the first leg before Anderson put the Red-White and Blue in front for keeps with a solid run down the back straight. Olear ran excellent third turn and had a picture perfect handoff to Mayo, who ran in for the 43.49 win. France, with Celine Distel running down Schillonie Calvert of Jamaica for second, 44.20 to 44.22. 1st exchange - Alexandria Anderson gets baton from Jeneba Tarmoh photo by Doug Speck

4 X 400-METER RELAY Jessica Beard led things off for the U.S. out of lane three with a 53.0 split that put the U.S. in second place just behind Nigeria, who got an outstanding opening leg of 52.76 from Folashade Abugan. Brandi Cross then took over and gave the U.S. a solid eight meter lead with her 52.3 split (left, photo by Doug Speck), Sa’de Williams kept the margin about the same with a 52.79 split, although it was now Jamaica and not Nigeria that was doing the chasing. Nicole Leach, who was second in the 400 hurdles, anchored in 50.96 as the U.S. won comfortably with a world junior leading time of 3:29.01, Nigeria, which overtook Jamaica in the final straight, was second in 3:30.84 and Jamaica was third in 3:31.62.

High Jump Final - Women

Svetlana Radzivil of Uzbekhistan got her National Junior record with a jump of 6-3.25, beating home country favorite Xingjuan Zheng who cleared 6-2 for the silver. Radzvil cleared 6-3.25 on her second attempt after being "clean" for the prior four heights. Annett Engel of Germany and Yekaterina Yevseyeva of Kazakhstan tied for silver at 6-0.5.

Discus Final - Women

The favorite, Dani Samuels of Australia, had a rather easy time of it. Five of her sixth throws would have won the competition. She opened with 197-7, then improved to a World Junior lead of 198-11 on her third throw. The battle was really for the silver, and that was between the two Chinese competitors, Saili Pan and Jian Tan. Pan, today the woman with a better plan, overran Tan by a span of 4' 4" (188-4 to 184-0).

Triple Jump Final - Men

Hugo Chila ( Ecuador), the favorite, was the first over 16 meters (52-6) with a jump of 53-1, followed on the next jump by Benjamin Compaore' of France who jumped 53-0.25. Round 3 saw Chila improve to 54-1, then Compaore' to 54-6 which would eventually be the winning distance. On his final jump, Minwei Zhong of China moved from the middle of the pack to third with a jump of 53-5.5.