The second day of the IAAF U-20 World Championships in Athletics, held in Lima 24 on Wednesday (28th), came to an exciting close with the 100m final.
The women's 100 metres was expected to be a contest between Jamaica's Alana Reid and Adaeja Hodge of the British Virgin Islands, and in fact the two athletes won gold and silver respectively.
It was the two starts that determined the medal color. Reed got off to a strong start and maintained her advantage throughout the race. In the end, no one could catch her and she finished in 11.17 seconds (0.0m/s) to win her first U20 World Title.
Hodge, meanwhile, had to overcome a somewhat slow start to reach the podium, as she accelerated significantly in the second half of the race to take second place in 11.27, with Kishauna Niles of Barbados completing the podium in 11.37.
The performance capped a stellar season for Reed, who was the lead runner on Jamaica's 4x100m relay team that placed fifth at the Paris Olympics. It was her second medallist at a World U-20 Championships, and this year's gold medal adds to her bronze in the 200m won at the 2022 California Games.
In the men's 100m final, Bayanda Walaza's strength was evident despite finishing in a personal best seventh place, as the South African got off to a dominant start to take the gold medal in 10.19 seconds (-0.9m/s).
Thailand's Pripol Boonsong came into the final knowing he needed an explosive start to get to the top of the podium. Although he didn't start fast enough to compete for the title, he kept his cool and performed well, finishing second in 10.22 seconds to give Thailand its first medal at the U20 World Championships.
Walaza's compatriot and pre-tournament favourite Bradley Nkoana took bronze in 10.26 seconds. The podium placement bodes well for the South African men's 4x100m team in Lima, especially as Walaza and Nkoana were both members of the silver medal-winning team at the Paris Olympics.
It's not always the case, but the women's heptathlon medals came down to the final event, the 800 meters. Jana Koszczak of Croatia knew she had to beat Lucia Aklin of Switzerland to take the gold. In the end, she beat the Swiss by less than a second, 2:24.56 to 2:25.43, to win the heptathlon with 5,807 points.
Koszczak took the lead in the heptathletes in the second event and maintained that position throughout the competition. Acklin, who won the silver medal with a personal best of 5,755 points, worked his way up the rankings on day one. On day two, he cemented his place on the podium with a season's best in the long jump, a personal best in the javelin and a season's best in the 800 meters.
Adela Tkatsova of the Czech Republic set the pace in the 800m, finishing with the fastest time of the tournament in 2:16.77, a new personal best of over a second. Her heroic performance saw her surpass Australia's Mia Chelli in the heptathlon standings to win the bronze medal with 5,601 points.
In the field events, China's Han Bingyan won the women's discus in the second round with a throw of 57.57 meters, setting a new personal best of over a meter. She was one of two athletes to set a new personal best in the final, the other being Venezuela's Otainis Mercedes Febres, who set a national U20 record with a throw of 51.43 meters to place eighth.
“I'm emotional. I never thought I'd get this far,” Han said. “I never thought I'd be able to pitch this far, so I'm really happy to have won here.”
Huang Jingru took the silver medal (56.47m) to complete an impressive first and second place sweep for China, while Australia's Marley Raikiwasa took the bronze medal with a throw of 56.25m in the fifth round.
It was a good night for Australia, as Laikiwasa's compatriot Delta Amidzovski topped the podium in the women's long jump with a new personal best of 6.58m. It was a surprise win for Amidzovski, who came into the competition with an off-season best result of 12th place, and she came through when it mattered to take the gold medal in the fifth round.
In a closely fought contest, Sophia Becquemont of the United States took the silver medal with a jump of 6.54m in the fifth round, temporarily pushing Amidzowski up to the silver medal position, while Poland's Julia Adamczyk also performed well in the fifth round, jumping 6.34m to move into bronze medal position.
Besides the results in the finals on Day 2, there were other important performances in the qualifying rounds for several events.
Jayden Davis of the United States ran a fast time of 45.79 seconds in the men's 400m semi-finals to comfortably lead all qualifiers. Kentaro Shirahata of Japan won the second semi-final in a personal best time of 46.30 seconds, and Sidi N'Jie of the United States won the third semi-final (46.56 seconds) to improve the United States' medal chances in the final.
Lourdes Gloria Manuel of the Czech Republic proved why she was the pre-race favorite by running the fastest overall time in the women's 400m semi-final. Manuel came in third in 51.91 seconds, closely followed by Ella Onojuwewo of Nigeria in 51.99 seconds. These two are fresh off of making the semi-finals at the Paris Olympics, so it's no surprise they look to be at the top of their game.
Zaya Akins of the United States won the first semifinal in 52.11, while Elisa Valencin of Italy earned the second automatic spot in her division with a national U20 record time of 52.23. Diana Proctor of Canada ran her second best time of the day in 52.59 to win the second semifinal.
In the men's 1500m heat, Cameron Myers of Australia led the field with a time of 3:41.32 in heat three. Myers ran from the front and looked the obvious favorite going into the final on Saturday (31st), with his races placing him among the top seven in all heats.
Josphat Kipkirui of Kenya won the first heat in 3:44.62, followed by Alex Pintado of Spain in the same time in the second heat. Ethiopia's Abdisa Faisa came into the competition with his fastest personal best and season's best (3:32.37) to finish just behind Pintado and comfortably qualify for the final.
In the women's 1,500m heats, Ethiopia's Saron Berhe topped the heats with a time of 4 minutes 18.88 seconds and made herself the favorite to win. She is the only athlete in the field with a personal best time under four minutes (3 minutes 59.21 seconds). It will take a special performance to beat her in Saturday's final.
Fellow heat winners Rachel Forsyth of Canada (4:20.85) and Ava Lloyd of Great Britain (4:21.53) will also be in the running for a podium finish, along with the second-fastest qualifier, Saida El Bulli of Morocco (4:20.94).
The automatic qualifying mark for the men's pole vault was 5.30m, but only four competitors broke 5.25m. A countback determined the finalists in descending order. He needed 5.10m to advance to Friday's final. Jan Kruček of the Czech Republic led the qualifying round with the only flawless time of the competition.
Jesse Gabriel of the World Athletics Championships
