Double sprint champion from the 2015 IAAF World Youth Championships, Candace Hill is gradually stepping up to her status as the tournament favourite after racing to a Championship Record (CR) of 11.12s on Day 3 of the IAAF World Junior Championships in Poland.
The 17-year old dominated a stacked Heat 2 of the women’s 100m semis at the Zawisza Stadium in Bydgoszcz on Thursday, taking the race ahead of fierce rival Khaifa St. Fort who followed in 2nd in 11.22s. Hannah Brier of Great Britain set a Personal Best (PB) of 11.39s to place 3rd, as Nigeria’s Mercy Ntia-Obong booked a place in the final as one of the fastest losers, finishing 4th in 11.58s.
They will be joined in the final by Poland’s Ewa Swoboda who stormed to a National U-20 Record of 11.17s to win Heat 3 of the semis, with Nigerian-born Bahraini athlete Iman Isa Jassim in 2nd with a time of 11.58s.
Swoboda had initially clocked a time of 11.10s in the heats on Wednesday, but it did not count as legal due to an excess tailwind of +2.7.
Great Britain’s Imani-Lara Lansiquot is another athlete to watch out for in Thursday’s final, after winning Heat 1 of the semis in 11.24s, finishing ahead of Colombia’s Evelyn Rivera (11.53s). The British athlete set a PB of 11.17s to win her preliminary race on Wednesday.
