15 August 2013

Marilyn Okoro (coach: Johnny Gray) and Laura Muir (Andy Young) progressed to the semi-finals of the women’s 800m while Jodie Williams (Stanley Madiri) made it through the heats of the women’s 200m during the morning session of day six at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow.

In the first 800m heat, Okoro timed her effort perfectly to close strongly and finish second in a closely run race to book her place in the semi-finals. Her time of 1:59.43 was a season’s best and she was delighted to have progressed.

Okoro said: “I’m very pleased; it’s a season’s best and I’m just happy to have executed my race the way I have. It was a tough draw and I thought ‘I know how these girls run’, so I just really wanted to relax and go through the motions and use my speed at the end and try to stay really calm.”

Muir ran a superb tactical race in the fourth heat as she sat off the quick early pace and worked her way through the field in the last 100m before crossing the line in third place, securing the last automatic qualifying position for tomorrow’s semi-finals. The 20 year old’s time of 2:00.80 was a personal best and she was overjoyed to have reached the semi-finals at her first World Championships.

Muir, who along with coach Andy Young is supported by the British Athletics Futures Programme, said: “I’m just so shocked. I ran my own race as I knew it was going to go off pretty quick so I just thought I’d run my own race and I’ve got a strong finish so I could just use that. When I ran my last 800m it was off my 1500m training so since selection we’ve changed my training a little bit and that helped quite a lot. A personal best will have to be on the cards again for the next round.”

Competing at her first senior global championship, 18 year old Jessica Judd (Rob Denmark) missed out on a place in the semi-final as she finished fifth in her heat with a time of 2:01.48. Despite her age, Judd was disappointed that her performance didn’t match her expectations.

“It didn’t go how I wanted it to at all,” said Judd. “The first lap was fine, the first 600 was fine, and then when I thought I really need to turn it on in the home straight there was just nothing there. I’m so disappointed but I gave it my all, it just wasn’t good enough today.”

Jodie Williams ran a time of 23.00 to finish fourth in her heat of the women’s 200m, enough to secure a place in this afternoon’s semi-finals as the second of three fastest losers. The 19 year old was pleased with her time as well as a place in the semi-finals.

She said: “I feel pretty good actually. 23.00 is the fastest I’ve ever run in a heat and I’ve never come out and run that fast in the first round, so I’m pleased with my performance. I get better through rounds so hopefully I can get a bit quicker. These girls are running so fast, it’s just an honour to be here really.”

Anyika Onuora (Rana Reider) finished fourth in her heat, outside of the three automatic qualifying positions, and with only three fastest loser places available her time of 23.36 was not enough to book a place in the semi-finals.

Onuora said: “Obviously I’m disappointed, gutted to say the least. I was there, it was just a bad race I guess. The start was fine. I’ve been running well all season. I felt like I ran my own race. It just didn’t go as planned unfortunately and it’s the slowest time I’ve run all season and it just so happens to be at the worst place. This is track and field unfortunately.”

For full results from day six in Moscow please go to: http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-championships/14th-iaaf-world-championships-4873/timetable/byday

In this afternoon’s session, Robbie Grabarz (Fuzz Ahmed) goes for a medal in the high jump, Perri Shakes-Drayton (Chris Zah) and Eilidh Child (Malcolm Arnold) line up in the women’s 400mH final, Hannah England (Bud Baldaro) looks to add another medal to the silver she won in 2011 in the women’s 1500m final, Jodie Williams returns for the semi-finals of the women’s 200m and the GB & NI men compete in the heats of the 4x400m relay.

Watch this afternoon’s session live on BBC2 between 15.45-19.00pm.

GB & NI finalists at the 2013 IAAF World Championships: