Golden Start in Lima | Australian Mixed Relay Claim World Under 20 Title on Opening Day of Championships
Published Wed 28 Aug 2024
Australia's rising sprint stars have opened their account at the 2024 World Athletics Championships in Lima with gold, as the Mixed 4x400m relay team secured the nation's first relay victory in 26 years, while Aleksandra Stoilova becomes the first Australian since Sally Pearson to contest the Women's 100m final at the prestigious meet.
The quartet of Jordan Gilbert (VIC, Michael Gilbert), Bella Pasquali (VIC, Jason Boulton), Jack Deguara (NSW, Katie Smee) and Sophia Gregorevic (VIC, Steve Gaffney) shattered the Australian Under 20 record twice in the one day, clocking the third fastest time in history in 3:19.27 to be crowned world champions.
Gilbert gifted the Australians the lead on the opening leg and the team never looked back, claiming victory by a margin of over one second.
“I like lane seven. I thought it was pretty nice to get out on the back straight and just try to hold your form. The last 100m, just kick, that’s about it – keep going,” Gilbert said.
Strong contributions from Pasquali and Deguara left Gregorevic to anchor the job home:
“It’s been such a shock, but really a dream come true. I feel so honoured to put on my national colours and run at a world event, and I’m so happy that we have been able to achieve the result that we have. I hope that there is many more like it in the future,” Gregorevic said.
Gabrielle Schmidt (QLD, Kerry Schreiber) raced to a stunning seventh-place finish over 5000m when setting a career-best of 16:10.87, finishing behind the might of East Africa who occupied the first five positions across the line.
“For me it’s about staying happy, staying healthy and staying confident. I had a bit of a freak out this morning, sorry to my roommate Ada [Rand], she was probably confused why I was squealing but getting out the uniform just really psyched me up.”
Rising sprinter Aleksandra Stoilova (NSW, Tevin Hester) is set to become Australia’s second woman in history to contest the Women’s 100m Final at the World Under 20 Championships and the first since Sally Pearson in 2004, having held her nerve in the semi-finals to progress by 0.01-seconds.
Clocking 11.58 (-0.3) to nail the last timed qualifier for the final of eight, the Clemson University product relied on her NCAA experience to stay relaxed and charge through the field.
“College is good for this type of championships because you have heats, semi-finals and the final – it’s good practice. Last World Juniors just running the heats of the 4x100m and not the final, it was a big motivation for me to push into the individual events this time around,” Stoilova said.
Reigning Australian 100m champion Sebastian Sultana (NSW, Greg Smith) was valiant in his bid to join Stoilova as a World Under 20 finalist in the blue ribbon event, ultimately falling short with a run of 10.52 (-0.6) in the semi-finals – finishing in equal 10th place overall.
Heptathlete Mia Scerri (VIC, Rob Stevens & Ralph Newton) took her opportunity in Lima to assert herself as a medal contender, finishing day one of the two-day event in third place with a score of 3385 points.
Posting her strongest results in the High Jump (1.75m) and Shot Put (13.81m), she now moves on to her preferred day of the heptathlon.
Olympic semi-finalists Peyton Craig (QLD, Brendan Mallyon) and Claudia Hollingsworth (VIC, Craig Mottram) made light work of their respective 800m heats, both claiming automatic qualifiers for Thursday’s semi-finals.
Craig coasted to second place in a comfortable 1:51.43, while Hollingsworth enjoyed a reprieve in racing pressure with a casual 2:08.98 victory, booking her ticket to the second round alongside 16-year-old Fleur Cooper (NSW, Ben Liddy) who finished fourth in her heat with a time of 2:06.80.
Building on the middle-distance success was Mia Toohey (NSW, Jacinta Doyle), who progressed to the 3000m Steeplechase Final with a career-best run of 10:23.87.
Delta Amidzovski (NSW, Becky Amidzovski & Roger Fabri) leapt to a distance of 6.09m and into tomorrow’s Long Jump Final with her third and final attempt in qualification to be ranked in sixth place – only seven cenitmetres outside the medals on paper.
Also advancing to a final in the field was discus thrower Marley Raikiwasa (SA, Patrick Ebel) with a 52.47m effort to qualify ranked fourth, while triple jumper Alex Epitropakis (QLD, Stacey Taurima) mustered a distance of 15.35m (+0.8) to land in 11th place as the top 12 progressed.
Tryphena Hewett (SA, Kym Simons & Pat Todd) also enjoyed a clean sheet in Pole Vault Qualification to clear 4.10m and advance to the final.
The 2024 World Athletics Under 20 Championships are being held in Lima, Peru from August 27-31, with live results, timetable and livestream information available HERE.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted 27/08/2024
