USA’s Noah Lyles has underlined his status as the favorite to clinch the men’s 100m title at the ongoing IAAF World Junior Championships in Poland, clocking the fastest time overall in the men’s 100m enroute his victory in Heat 3 of the event.
Lyles who turned 19 on Monday, returned a time of 10.28s in the preliminaries, finishing ahead of Brazil’s Derick Silva (10.34s) and homeboy Eryk Hampel who set a Personal Best (PB) of 10.39 to qualify for the semis. Incidentally, Nigeria’s Emmanuel Arowolo had been scheduled to compete in the same heat, but Did Not Start (DNS) due to his late arrival at the championship.
Australia’s Jack Hale (10.48s), Oliver Bromby of Great Britain (10.52s) and Japanese Ippei Takeda (10.61s) were the only qualifiers from Heat 1. Heat 2 was dominated by Brazilian Paulo André de Oliveira (10.31s), and he was followed by Khairul Hafiz Jantan (10.44 s) and Jamaica’s Jhevaughn Matherson (10.47s).
Italy’s Filippo Tortu (10.29s) won Heat 4, while Commonwealth Youth Champion, South Africa’s Tlotliso Leotlela won Heat 5 in a time of 10.32s. Mario Burke of Barbados won Heat 6 in 10.33s, and was followed by Kenta Oshima in a Season’s Best (SB) of 10.44s.
Lyles narrowly missed making the US team to the Olympics after finishing 4th with a time of 20.04s in the final of the 200m, which was won by Justin Gatlin in 19.75s. He broke the 31-year-old High School record, setting a new mark of at 20.09s in the semis.
Jamaica’s Tiffany James also impressed in the women’s 400m heats, finishing with the fastest time overall of 52.98s to win Heat 4 ahead of Ukraine’s Ivanna Avramchuk (54.71s) and Jenna Bromell (54.98s). Nigeria’s Priase Idamadudu had been listed to compete in this heat, but was also affected by Team Nigeria’s late arrival.
Kenya’s Maureen Nyatichi Thomas clocked the second fastest time overall of 53.04s to win Heat 1. She was followed by Canadian sprinter Natassha McDonald who set a PB of 53.62s to finish in 2nd, as Hendrikje Richter placed 3rd in 53.67. Shaquania Dorsett of the Bahamas narrowly qualified after her 4th place finish in a time of 54.55s.
Another Jamaican, Junelle Bromfield was the woman to beat in Heat 2 as she clocked 53.21s, with Ukraine’s Dzhois Koba following with 53.74s. The trio of Roxana Gómez (53.16s), Hannah Williams (53.85s) and Natalia Kaczmarek (54.75s) qualified from Heat 3. USA’s Lynna Irby won Heat 5 with 53.08s, as Mexico’s Paola Morán won the final heat in 53.96s.
