And as with ANY 6 day period of being cooped up with "the kids", you're either seen drowning yourself in booze & pills, bragging to everyone in sight about YOUR children, or in the lingo of Social Media, just SMH!!
The Tampere, Finland edition of the World Junior Championships--known to some as the U20's--produced just such a mind-bending assortment of reactions!
A few athletes--not always from OUR country!--produced some astounding marks!
Some performed as we expected--or close to it!
But it seems far too many ran, jumped, or threw so poorly, we have to question their preparation, their coaches advice & skills, and their own motivation & desire---or lack thereof!!
Well, this is supposed to be a RESULTS post about this 6-day meet, and that it shall be!
The most shocking?
That the Men's 10000 produced a Meet Record---and a last 5000 ALMOST as fast as the winner of the 5K!!
When they hit 5K in 13:57, I did NOT see a MR happening!
They'd need to run that final 5K in 13:28 or faster!
Except that's just what Rhonex Kipruto did!
His finishing 5000 of 13:24 set the WJC Meet Record at 27:21.08, and beat Jacob Kiplimo's 27:40.36 with abandon!
Sticking with Meet Records, another was set by Ashley Maloney in the Decathlon!
His 8190 points included a 46.86 in the 400, which ended his 1st day at 4319 points!
It happened in the Semi's, but Twanesha Terry's 11.03 nipped the old 100 MR by 0.04 seconds!
(More on the 100 later!)
A strong finish, and a fairly even pace, brought Ethiopia's Diribe Welteji in under 2 minutes in the 800!
Her MR time was 1:59.74--with splits of 58.98 and 60.76!
Running good in 2nd was Canada's Carley Thomas, time of 2:01.13!
But expected medalists from the US--Caitlin Collier and Sammy Watson--both failed to qualify, despite running the same times of 2:03.95 in their respective heat races!!
Another distance race produced another MR!
But if Celiphine Chespol had NOT beaten her own MR from 2016---THAT would have been shocking!!
She reached the 2K point of her 3000SC final in 6:15--after a 3:16 opening K!
Finishing with a K in 2:57---and 2K in 5:56!--gave her the new MR time of 9:12.78!
This easily disposed of Peruth Chemutai's 9:18.87!
Back in 7th came the US's Alice Hill, whose 7th place time of 9:57.04 was her second PR of the meet--her first being her heat of 10:09!!
Did anyone REALLY think Mondo Duplantis might lose--or NOT break the Meet Record??
Or that after taking the MR to 19-1, that he wouldn't make some attempts at the 6 meter bar??
(In a meet with children, he was literally taking candy from babies!! LOL)
BTW, he missed those 6.00 attempts, but finished far ahead of Zach Bradford's PR-tying 18-2.50!
Bradford remains 7th A-T HS, tied with 1 other!
Another with a nearly 100% guaranteed W (& MR) attached to his name was Cuba's Jordan Diaz in the TJ!
His qualifying mark of 56-1 just missed the MR, but his finals mark of 56-3.25 put his name on it!!
The last MR here brings us back to the sprints--namely the Women's 100!
While Twanisha Terry (See above!) got the MR, the W went to 16 year old US-based Jamaican Brianna Williams!!
Her 11.16 was enough to hold off Terry's 11.19!
But it was in the 200 where Williams made herself not just "a winner", but one of the A-T sprint Greats!!
She made the curve seem like a straight, then when she hit the actual straight, she EXPLODED!!
Her fluid form carried her small (Think Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce or Lauryn Williams!!) frame to the line in 22.50!!
This after ANOTHER Williams--Lauren Rain--had the fastest heat or semi time--22.98!!
And yes, Williams (Brianna, that is!) goes to HS in the States, but runs for Jamaica Internationally!!
So her time makes her 5th A-T HS!!
As for Lauren Rain, she took 2nd in a good--but FAR back!--23.09!
The 10000 Track Walks were solid, but not Record-breaking--at least not up front!!
The Men's race went to China's Yao Zhang, time of 40:32.06.
In second came Ecuador's David Hurtado--in 40:32.06!
Yes, I said BOTH Walked 40:32.06, but one was given Gold, the other Silver!
They went to the thousandths of a second, but NO difference in TIME!!
HOW they determined one winning is beyond me!!
(See below!!)
The Women's race was more decisive, the victory going to Mexico's Aleyna Gonzalez, time of 44:13.88.
But for Americans, all eyes were on the pair of Taylor Ewart and Lauren Harris!
Harris eventually DNF'ed (after 7K), but when Ewart started at 45:00 pace, the march toward her SHATTERING her new HSR of 49:07 had begun!
She ended 5000 in 22:42--in 10th place!
Then she moved up to 5th--but eventually fell back to 10th--which BTW is the highest placing for a US female Walker in Championship History--adults or teens!!
Her final time--and new HSR and SOPH Class Record--was 45:57.81.
She'd taken three MINUTES and 10 seconds off her time set at the USATF Jrs less than one month ago!!
If she were a runner--which she IS!!--we'd be speculating on WHEN she was turning Pro!!
She's THAT good!!
While that takes care of the "big" Records, there were several other results well worth mentioning--and highlighting!!
When we think of HSR's, we think of United States HS's!
So where do you think Jakob Ingebrigtsen's 3rd place time of 13:20.78 in the 5000 might place him IF he were a US HS'er??
Well, since the OUTdoor HSR is Galen Rupp's 13:37.91--from 2004!--we'd be SCREAMING with delight at his SMASHING of said Record!!
Alas, he runs for (and lives in) Norway!!
(And I think he'd be just an 11th Grader now!!)
Taking 1st in that race was Kenya's Edward Pingua--time of 13:20.16.|
Second (in a sprint finish) went to Kenya's Stan Mburu, time of 13:20.57!
Young Ingebrigtsen was right behind, with established-ELITE elite Selemon Barega just 4th--in 13:21.16!
A couple of other Americans performed well.
Tzuriel Pedigo Q'ed for the JT with 240-4.
He remained 5th A-T HS!
(Yes, the "junior" Javelin is the same weight as the US HS's use!!)
While Nash Lowes of Australia won the final--with 247-1--Pedigo improved to 242-0, taking the Silver!!
Pedigo moved from 5th A-T HS to 4th!
Josh Hoey ran his 800 heat in a winning 1:48.86.
He improved in the Semi's, but his OUTdoor PR of 1:48.07 wasn't enough to move him on to the final!!
But it did move him from 21st A-T HS to 12th!!
Caitlin Collier would probably call her Tampere results POOR!!
And yes, they WERE far below "expectations"!!
But her 4:18.40 in the 1500 heats was a PR, moving her from 23rd A-T HS up to 18th!
(She ended LAST in the final!!)
Tripp Piperi sent his (??? pound) ball out 72-4.50 from the Shot Put ring!
People say that's a good mark for a ball weighing that much!
(Wouldn't know--don't care!!)
But he was sent back to Silver position when expected winner Kyle Blignaut sent his orb out a half-inch farther--to 72-5!!
The Women's 5K was a snore-fest---or an imitation MoBot--for awhile!
But their little speed-up brought Beatrice Chebet home the winner in an okay 15:30.77!
She barely edged Ejgayehu Taye's 15:30.87!
Back in 8th came Callie Logue with a PR time of 15:56.00!
(Where do you think INdoor 15:37 girl Katelyn Tuohy might have wound up??)
Alyssa Wilson didn't have the best of meets--despite her 3-pronged attack on her various sets of competitors!
Madison Wesche of New Zealand (Where else, considering one Val Adams might be her neighbor!!) won the SP with a modest 56-1.
(Keep in mind that Wilson's PR is 58-1!!)
Wilson, however, got the hated-XXX as her "result"!!
The DT went a TINY bit better!
Alexandra Emilianov won as expected with 189-11.
Wilson DID get a mark this time, but only enough to give her a 10th place finish!!
It was in the Hammer Throw where Wilson performed well.
Her 211-5 in 2nd lost to Canada's Camryn Rogers, who reached 212-11.
Some upsets & BAD shocks were scattered throughout!
Anthony Schwartz was beaten by Lalu Zahri in the 100, 10.18 to 10.22--with Eric Harrison also timed in 10.22--but given 3rd!
Lisa Gunnarsson had PV'ed 15-1 as a Virginia Tech Frosh this year, but here, her 14-3.25 fell far short of Amalie Svabakova's 14-9.50 W!
The Heptathlon was supposed to be HANDED to Alina Shukh!!
That is, until an injury took her out of the event after the 100H!!
The 1st day saw Great Britain's Niamh Emerson score 3690 points, with Adriana Rodriguez 2nd with 3634, followed by Sarah Lagger's 3609, and Celeste Mucci's 3523!
Anna Hall was already behind her HSR pace, but was 7th, with Sterling Lester in 8th--also behind her PR!
It came down to the 800!
And there, Emerson prevailed, ending with 6253 points to Lagger's 6225!
Hall scored a solid 5655---which, if she hadn't scored 5798 for that HSR--would have been a GREAT score for her!!
Lester also ended good, but her 5478 was also off her PR!
Christopher Taylor had sped a 400 in 44.88!
He was expected to win!
He didn't!
While his 45.38 was good enough for Silver, it was Belgium's Jonathan Sacoor who won--time of 45.03!
Even at his best, Taylor would have had a RACE---from a Belgian with a last name NOT Borlee!!
(See below!)
Tara Davis was another who came to Tampere with Gold expectations!!
Whether it was the weather (Rain just before the start of the LJ!), or that she just had a bad day, Davis wound up 3rd, her 20-10.50 almost 6 inches behind Germany's Lea-Jasmine Riecke's 21-4.25!
Before I get to the Relays, other WJC results included---
Yuki Hashioki took the Men's LJ with a decent mark of 26-4.25.
While Alina Shukh bowed out of the later Hept, she'd started her meet in the open JT!!
And she WON it!!!
Her 183-6 was enough, but Dana Baker came THIS close to her PR, her 180-7 giving her Bronze!!
Japan's Nozumi Tanaka SHOCKED the Africans by taking the 3000 in 8:54.01.
Guess front-running DOES work sometimes!!
Jake Norris threw the "junior" weight Hammer out 264-7 for the expected W!
In the absence of Sydney McLaughlin, South Africa's Zeney Van Der Walt was allowed to win, her time of 55.34 not scaring anyone outside her teenage realm!
(Someone joked that Syd the Kid would have won the flat 400--even if they'd forced her to run HER race over hurdles!!)
And speaking of that flat 400, it went to India's Hima Das!!
The T&FN Message Board was lit up for awhile (until Garry Hill put a stop to it!) with speculation that Das MIGHT later come under the IAAF "Semenya rule"!!
Meaning that "she" might NOT be all "she" appears to be!!
(On appearance alone, she does NOT resemble Semenya--at all!! In fact, GH's wrath was invoked NOT by the Semenya speculation, but because someone called Das "cute"!)
GIVE--ME--A--BREAK!!!
Okay, back to the results!
Das won the 400 in 51.46!
Andrea Miklos took 2nd in 52.07, with the US's Taylor Manson timing 52.28 in 3rd!
I mentioned earlier Jakob Ingebrigtsen's 5000!
But he began his WJC meet in the 1500!
As I'd noted in my Preview, Sam Teferi had the quickest PR--by 4 seconds!!--coming in!
But PR's only count---on paper!!
And when you're facing an Ingebrigtsen, and the brother of Elijah Manangoi (George)--well, you'd better produce that PR---on the TRACK!!
Teferi didn't even come close!
Another MoBot race only sped up nearing the bell, where Manangoi began his final 400 of--52.87!!
Yep, I said 52.87--in a race of all teenagers!!
George's time was 3:41.71, with Jakob's being 3:41.89!
As for Teferi, he faded to 5th--time of 3:43.91---12 seconds slower than his best!!
(When you GOT it, FLAUNT it, Sammy!!)
Speaking of which, Cooper Teare ended in 10th!!
As I said in a Tweet, I made some stupid errors in my Preview (besides misspelled names!!)--one being the fact I'd forgotten that nations were allowed just TWO entrants per event--thus erasing any hope for a "sweep" of the medals!!
Thus, Jamaica's 110H'ers got ONLY Gold & Silver, with Damion Thomas's 13.16 beating Orlando Bennett's 13.19!
Great Britain was another denied a sweep!!
But their James Efoloko (20.48) and Charles Dobson (20.57) did manage a 1-2 in the 200!!
South Africa's Sokwakhana Zazini took the 400H in 49.42.
Karyna Taranda won the HJ with her 6-3.50!
Sommer Lecky of Ireland, and Maria Murillo went over 6-2.75, with Lecky getting lucky (Luck--or Lecky--of the Irish?? LOL), being given the Silver!
Kai Chang of Jamaica took the Men's DT with 204-7.
Another Fedric Dacres on the rise??
As for that Women's 1500, Alemez Samuel of Ethiopia used a 61.04 last 400 to win in 4:09.67.
Miriam Cherop was 2nd in 4:10.73!
Caitlin Collier, as noted above, finished 12th and last!
A slight upset happened in the Men's 3000SC, where Kenyan's had been winning---well, it seems FOREVER!!
But here, it was Ethiopian Takele Nigate's 8:25.35 which outleaned Leonard Bett's 8:25-39--and predicted winner Getnet Wale's 8:26.16!
Jasmine Moore didn't make the final 8 in the TJ!
She wound up 10th!
But Aleksandra Nacheva of Bulgaria needn't have worried!
Her 46-6.25 in round 2 was more than enough for the Gold!
The Men's 800 was another snore-fest---after just a 52.18 opening lap!
Until the finish, that is, when an exciting RACE gave the W to Solomon Lekuto in 1:46.35, with Ngeno Kipngetich right behind in 1:46.45!
Another squeaker happened in the Men's HJ---where a TIE was finally given to Greece's Antonios Merlos and to Mexico's Roberto Vilches--their 7-3.75's both given 1st's!!
Speaking of close--when we speak of the Women's 100H, we're talking C-L-O-S-E!!!!
As in INSEPARABLY CLOSE!!
Tia Jones had had the fastest heat time---13.06--but her 13.01 in the final only MATCHED Britany Anderson's 13.01!!
(Cortney Jones took 3rd with 13.19!)
After a microscopic look at the finish line photos--from EVERY angle!--they (the officials!) finally said they had the EXACT SAME TIME---
BUT---"they" gave the Gold to Jones, with Jamaica's Anderson getting the Silver!!
I mean, they measured it down to the thousandths of a second---looked at those photos over and over again---but STILL gave one 1st, the other 2nd!!
WTF??!!
Okay, on to those Relays!
The Women's 4 X 100 saw 2 rather significant DQ's--with the United States and Jamaica NOT moving to the final!!
Germany's 43.82 wound up beating surprising Ireland's 43.90!
The US Men survived the heats--and won the final--38.88 to Jamaica's 38.96!
In the ending Women's event--the 4 X 400 Relay--the US was dominant--now having won EVERY WJC long relay since 2000!!
Their 3:28.74 finished far ahead of Australia's 3:31.36.
Then the 6 day meet ended with the Men's 4 X 400!!
Where the US was expected to win---and maybe even challenge the "World Junior Record"---and MR--of 3:01.09.
The US was leading at the first hand-off!
Well, they were leading BEFORE the 1st baton exchange!!
Which--for the US--didn't happen!
The stick fell to the track!
By the time the US's 2nd man recovered the baton, they were FAR behind!
But by the final lap, the US had pulled into 4th--then 3rd--then 2nd--where they finally finished!!
It was Italy (Yes, ITALY!!) who took advantage of the US's fumble, winning in 3:04.05!
The US's time was 3:05.26!
BTW, Belgium's team had open 400 winner Sacoor (See above)--AND yet another from the Borlee clan--this one named Rayaan!!
Will we soon see a Belgian 4 X 400 with ALL FOUR being from one family??)
While that ended the World Junior (U20) Championships in Tampere, Finland, it did NOT finish off all the results I've gathered for your perusal!!
Those--from the Rabat DL, the Flanders Cup, the World Cup (ATHLETICS World Cup, Silly! LOL), and assorted other locales--will follow in another post in a day or 2.
Included in that post will be the results of one Mary Cain's (!!) 1st track race in two years--almost to the day!!
She's entered in the Cork (Ireland) 3000--along with Eleanor Purrier, Nicole Tully, GenGen LaCaze, and Sarah Pagano, among others!
(She's also entered in the Sotteville, France meet on the 28th--again in the 3000!!)
So my next post will probably be just after that Cork meet!!
(Will Cain and her fans be "popping the Cork"---or not?? LOL)
See you soon!
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