After an excellent opening day of competition, with an historic first medal
ever for Sophie McKinna (coach: Geoff Capes) who became the first British
woman ever to win a global championship medal in the shot putt, the Aviva
Great Britain and Northern Ireland team returned to action with the aim to
keep momentum, as more and more events enter crucial phases and medals are
awarded.
No athlete did so more than Hayley McLean (Steve Mitchell), who stunned the
crowd at the Stadium Lille Metropole with a brave run in the second
semi-final of the 400m hurdles. McLean, looking for a top two placement to
advance to the final, put in what she described as "her best run ever" to
destroy her previous PB (59.58s) with a new time of 58.74s. As the USA's
Nnenya Hailey set a World leading performance (58.44s), McLean stormed to
4th in this season's World rankings, an astonishing result from the
16-year-old Chelmsford athlete.
"I came here ranked ninth and didn't even expect to make the final, so to
actually qualify for it is a dream come true! I'll go out there on Saturday,
run like I did today and have fun. This was my best run ever and I got a
massive PB. It was in very difficult conditions, I was in an outside lane
and couldn't see anyone so I had to run making my own pace. I want to thank
everyone so much.
"McLean's performance was not the only one that confirmed Great Britain and
Northern Ireland's top form at these World Youth Championships. Lucy Bryan
(Neil Winter) started her pole vault competition knowing that equalling her
season best of 3.90m would guarantee her a place in the final, to be held in
the afternoon. Bryan, who competes domestically for Bristol & West, cleared
each mark from 3.50m up to 3.85m at the first attempt - enough for her to
rank in the top 12 who gained the ticket to the final pool and postponing
the need to jump her current 2011 benchmark to this afternoon. "Conditions
out there are ideal, just how I like them. My aim for the final is to go out
and jump over 4m - I did it before this season and I think I can do it
again."
Jessica Judd (Jeremy Freeman), ranked second in the World, had a good run in
her 800m heat. The Chelmsford athlete got the lead at the break and led the
whole race, only letting Ethiopia's Alem Gereziher through in the last 150m
to clinch one of the four automatic qualifying spots for tomorrow's
semi-final, her final time being 2:07.35. "I thought I'd go off in a good
pace and gradually ease it down, which allowed the pack to slowly come back.
I am happy, I feel really good."
Running in heat four, Katie Snowden (James McDonald) had a similarly
confident run, playing a waiting game in a relatively slow race and
finishing second to American Ajee Wilson in a time of 2:14.10. "The Jamaican
athlete [Marleena Eubanks] took the first lap really slowly, and when
another girl went past I just followed her into position. Tomorrow's race
will be much more competitive and we'll much faster times; hopefully I can
finish in the top two and qualify."
The afternoon session will see five Aviva Great Britain and Northern Ireland
athletes in action with semi-finals action for Yasmin Miller (Jared Deacon)
in the 100m hurdles at 16:14 (with a possible final at 19:30), Chijindu Ujah
(Edwin Stephens) in the 100m at 17:47 (event final: 19:45), Alex Boyce (Stan
Roberts) in the 400m and William Gurton (Nick Taylor) and Elliot Slade
(Arwyn Davies) in the 800m.
