11 July 2008

 Full timetables and results can be found at the World Junior championships website

Day Four- Morning session

In the second heat of the men’s 110 m hurdles Alex Al-Ameen (Blackheath & Bromley) ran strongly against a high quality line up. His 14.00 (-0.7m/s) effort left him in third place, scraping through to the semi-final with as a fastest loser.

“I got out alright but the French guy just crept up on me. I felt good in warm up, that was my first race in two weeks so my legs haven’t been turning over. Hopefully I’ll get a fastest loser place“

Following a slow start in the men’s 110m hurdles, Edirin Okoro (Birchfield Harriers) managed to qualify for the final with a fastest loser place. His 13.99 effort could have been bettered with a stronger start, which he will no doubt be focussing on in the next round.

Steph Twell (AFD) ran an incredible 1500m heat, sitting in last place for the first two laps before making a steady push, with amazing ease, to lead the pack on the second bend of the final lap. With 200m to go Twell and the American Alexandra Kosinski broke and went head to head for first place. Twell’s time of 4:19.18 left her narrowly in second place but with comfortable qualification.

The Double European Cross Country Champion & European Junior Silver medallist said: “The first 200m were pretty hard, there was daylight between me and the group but I just tried not to panic. I had to make the decision to push soon because otherwise I thought it was going to kick off and I wasn’t going to be on it. ”

“I just did what I had to do, qualify, and now I just have to really focus for Sunday. I’m feeling confident going into the final. ”

Emma Pallant (AFD) stood up to the standard set by club and team-mate Twell in her 1500m heat. Her confident presence on the track saw her in the front group throughout, breaking into the first bend of the final lap with the Ethiopian Kalkidan Gezahengne. She qualified for the final comfortably in second place with 4:21.67. 

She said: “It was a little bit stop and start but I stuck to my game plan and I’m feeling good.

"My plan was to stay easy but if it’s too slow paced then move it on a little bit. We both went with 400m to go so i think we had the same game plan.

"I need to stay realistic, alot of the girls from the other heat qualified comfortably and are looking good so it’s shaping up to be a good final."

Abigail Irozuru (Sale Harriers) finished seventh in the first round of the women’s long jump, hitting the mark to carry her to the final. Her first jump was not recognised, she then went on to jump 6.04m (0.8m/s) and 5.91m (1.7m/s). She will compete again on Saturday 12^th.   

Shaunagh Brown (Blackheath & Bromley Harriers AC) failed to make it through to the final of the women’s dicus. Her best throw of 45.62m came on her last attempt but wasn’t enough to land her passage through to the next round.