A Fitting Finish | Boras Goes Bang for Bronze
Published Sun 07 Aug 2022
Australia’s Tiana Boras has clinched the nation’s second medal at the World Athletics Under 20 Championships on the sixth and final day in Cali, Colombia – winning Triple Jump bronze to apply polish to a strong campaign that has demonstrated the elusive nature of global medals in athletics.
After a four-centimetre personal best in the qualifying round, Boras piled on a further 16cm with the opening jump of the Women’s Triple Jump Final, leaping 13.30m (-0.1) to propel herself into medal contention and never look back – finishing third on countback.
“It feels crazy, I could never have imagined this experience. I was ranked 13th!” Boras said.
“With my first jump I just went with a bang and gave it my all, the conditions were so amazing and the track is super-fast. I knew I had more in me, but I struggled with soreness from competing the day before.”
Pascual Guerrero Estadio was a sea of colour as countries assembled to celebrate the championships on the closing afternoon, with Boras feeding off the bubbling energy to produce the performance of her life.
“It was quite nerve-racking seeing [the competitor] jump 13.30 but once I found out that I had won on countback, it was so exciting,” Boras said.
Coached by Alwyn Jones, the 17-year-old is eligible to the 2024 World Athletics Under 20 Championships in Lima, Peru - already hatching plans to further progress as she establishes her young career.
“Next for me is just to work harder and improve on that performance,” Boras said.
The medal takes Australia’s tally to two for the championships, after Calab Law’s bronze in the Men’s 200m on day four.
Erin Shaw added to the Australian success on day six with a fourth-place finish in the Women’s High Jump; the 17-year-old’s new career best of 1.88m resulting in mixed emotions.
“It was so good with the crowd; I had a lot of fun. I’m happy with how I was able to perform under pressure at my first international competition, I’m pretty proud but fourth is very annoying – a bit of a frustrating one,” Shaw said.
“I was trying to just focus on myself because you can’t change the other competitors or how they perform, so I was just focused on jumping a personal best and that was what I was able to do.
“I felt really good at 1.91, My three attempts were close and I was able to improve on each jump.”
Shaw’s 16-year-old compatriot Toby Stolberg finished in eighth place with a 1.75m clearance.
Other finals action on the final day of competition saw the Women’s 4x400m team of Ellie Beer, Isabella Guthrie, Txai Anglin and Jasmin Guthrie finish sixth, while Darcy Miller was 12th in the Men’s Discus, and Laura Roderick 15th in the Women’s 5000m.
Australia fielded a team of 53 athletes at the 2022 World Athletics Under 20 Championships, which took place from August 1-6 in Cali, Colombia.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 7/8/2022
