World Athletics U20 Championships 2022, Cali, Colombia, 1st - 6th August: Day 4

[RunUnlimited]

Day 4 in Cali could potentially see Great Britain's first ever World U20 champion in the women's 400m, after Yemi Mary John's record breaking performance on Wednesday put the 19 year old in pole position for the final in today's evening session. Jeriel Quainoo also made a final, though in men's 200m which closes out day 4's action, it will be all about Botswana's Lesile Tebago and his quest to complete the 100m/200m double.

In the morning session, Marli Jessop and European U18 champion Mia McIntosh begin their 100m hurdles campaigns in the heats, while Ella Rush and Eloise Hind will conclude their heptathlon adventure. Also there is a morning final for the women's pole vault, which will feature Brits Gemma Tutton and Sophie Ashurst which has been re-scheduled due to the violent thunderstorms and heavy rain that caused a nearly 2 hour disruption to the action on Wednesday.

Also, the women's 200m gets underway, with 2022 European U20 leader Success Eduan and Sophie Walton taking on the best U20's in the world.

[RunUnlimited]

Already some bad news for the British team this morning session.... Eloise Hind who was in 12th place going into the 2nd day of the heptathlon, has pulled out of the event.

[RunUnlimited]

Marli Jessop came 4th in her heat of the 100m hurdles, 13.60 (-0.2m/s), trailing behind a complete shock from Indonesia, Dina Aluia, who before today had never broken 14 seconds, but here utterly demolished the Indonesian NU20 record, with 13.44

[MysteryBrick]

Just seen the race, amazing recovery to finish. Hopefully it is just a bash.

[RunUnlimited]

Disappointing outing for Benjamin East, who could only manage a best of 64.05m in javelin qualifying and he is out.

[RunUnlimited]

Mia McIntosh, almost came a cropper in the next heat of the 100m hurdles, smacking into the 3rd barrier after a great start with her knee and almost going down, yet she managed to recompose herself and finished in 2nd place with 13.51 (+0.1m/s) and therefore makes it into the semi finals. Even with that near-disaster, she runs her 2nd fastest ever time over the U20 height barriers. She did walk off the track with a slight limp, but hopefully she'll be ok for the next round, because I think she was well on her way to running something in the 13.2/13.3 range, which is world class at this level.

[CAML]

Mia McIntosh absolutely battered the third hurdle with her trail leg, but somehow recovered to come second in 13.51, just outside her 13.45 pb. This was her first race since winning the Euro U18's over the lower hurdles, and one of the few races she's had over the higher hurdles. She limped off, so the next round might be a doubt.

[RunUnlimited]

Ella Rush, the remaining Brit in the heptathlon now with Hind pulling out before the long jump, managed a best of 5.93m (+0.6m/s) in the long jump contest and will remain in 7th place overall in the heptathlon, with 4196 points. Up next though is her weakest discipline, the javelin, where she only has a PB of 33.12m, the 2nd weakest out of the entire field

[RunUnlimited]

With just one heat left in the 100m hurdles, Marli Jessop is still the fastest of the non-automatic qualifiers and it's pretty much certain that she'll be making it through to the semi finals.

[RunUnlimited]

Good run from Sam Reardon, the co-captain for the GB team here in Cali, in his heat of the 800m, qualifying for the semi finals in 2nd place and showing plenty of tactical nous to get himself out of trouble into the next round.

[trickstat]

Nice of the organisers to put Ethan Hussey in heat 7 to maximise his rest after the 1500!

[RunUnlimited]

After the disappointment of UK no.1 Benjamin East only managing 64m and going out in qualifying group A of the javelin, Michael Allison pulled it out of the bag with a 3rd round effort in group B of 69.60m, just 10cm shy of his lifetime best and good enough for 9th overall in the standings.

[Occasional Hope]

Well done Michael! Interestingly, he has a lot less experience than Benjamin East, having only started the event last year, whereas East has come up through the junior ranks.

[RunUnlimited]

Nice of the organisers to put Ethan Hussey in heat 7 to maximise his rest after the 1500!

Well, Hussey didn't look tired at all and comfortably made through into the semi finals, winning that 7th and final heat in 1;50.28.

[RunUnlimited]

Dang it! Sophie Ashurst bows out at 4.20m in the pole vault. Gemma Tutton is still in but she's on her last attempt at the same height.

[Occasional Hope]

Sophie Walton makes it through the first round of the 200, 2nd in her heat with a pb of 23.40. Good performance.

[RunUnlimited]

Great run from Sophie Walton in her heat of the 200m, drawn in lane 1 and with American Braehe-Pedersen who has run 22.98 outside her, Walton not only dealt with the tight turn, but kept pace with Pedersen pretty much all the way. As a result, she was rewarded with a PB of 23.40 (-0.1m/s). She's through to the semi finals and will get a better lane draw for sure. Well done.