From Paris to Peru, Olympic sprinters Nkoana and Hodge progress on busy first morning in Lima

Olympians Bradley Nkoana, Adaejah Hodge, Bayanda Walaza and Alana Reid kept their medal hopes on track during the first morning of action at the World Athletics U20 Championships Lima 24 on Tuesday (27).

Cruising through the first round of the 100m, they all safely progressed to the afternoon’s semifinals, with the finals taking place on Wednesday evening.

The World U20 Championships might be the stage on which many upcoming athletes make their breakthrough, but Nkoana and Walaza have already experienced significant senior success. Just a couple of weeks ago at the Olympic Games, they teamed up with Akani Simbine and Shaun Maswanganyi to secure silver for South Africa in the 4x100m before making the trip from Paris to Peru to compete for age-group honours.

On a cloudy morning in Lima, Nkoana – who tops the 100m entry list with his 10.03 PB – looked in control as he eased to the joint fastest time in the men’s 100m heats. The 19-year-old ran 10.27 to win the seventh heat ahead of USA’s Brayden Williams, who clocked a 10.32 PB, and Nkoana’s time was matched by Japan’s Naoki Nishioka when winning the eighth heat.

Walaza was just 0.01 off that mark to win heat two and they will be joined in the semifinals by athletes including their fellow heat victors Teddy Wilson (10.29), Deandre Daley (10.37), Gary Card (10.40), Puripol Boonson (10.41) and Okon Israel Sunday (10.48).

“I felt a lot of pressure before competing here in Lima, you could feel the tension,” said Nkoana. “But I really think I can handle it myself.”

Hodge reached the 200m semifinals on her Olympic debut in Paris, where she was the flag bearer for British Virgin Islands at the opening ceremony, and the 18-year-old was back on the track for the 100m on day one in Lima. She secured a heat win in 11.45, 0.01 quicker than the time achieved by Reid, who eased to her own heat victory.

Reid, the world U20 leader who set a Jamaican U20 record of 10.92 last year, formed part of her nation’s 4x100m team in Paris, helping them to finish fifth. This week she will hope to add another medal to the world U20 200m bronze she claimed in Cali two years ago.

Among those joining them in the hunt for a place in the 100m final will be Great Britain & Northern Ireland’s Nia Wedderburn-Goodison and Mabel Akande, who won their respective heats in 11.47 and 11.53, plus South Africa’s Viwe Jingqi (11.61) and Switzerland’s Chloe Rabac (11.77).

Jordan Gilbert, Bella Pasquali, Jack Deguara and Sophia Gregorevic made a statement in the mixed 4x400m heats, combining to clock an Oceanian U20 record of 3:21.10 to top the first round.

India, silver medallists in Cali and bronze medallists when the discipline made its World U20 Championships debut in Nairobi in 2021, will seek another medal after finishing second in that first heat in 3:22.54.

Also on the hunt for a podium place with be Poland, after the quartet won heat three in 3:21.92 ahead of Norway (3:23.93). Germany and Jamaica will join them in the final after securing the top two spots in heat two.

The women’s 800m heats brought the day one morning session track action to a close and it was Japan’s 16-year-old Rin Kubo who went quickest, winning her heat in 2:04.53. She was followed by Ethiopia’s Aster Areri and Germany’s Marie Celie Warneke in respective PBs of 2:04.76 and 2:04.80, while Sarah Moraa – the cousin of world 800m champion Mary Moraa – won her own heat in 2:05.11.

Tunisia’s Mohamed Karim Amri ran a PB of 1:49.21 to qualify quickest for the men’s 800m semifinals. Kenya’s Kelvin Kimutai Koech ran 1:49.28 in that same heat and Ethiopia’s General Berhanu Ayansa won another in 1:49.48.

Koscak tops heptathlon after two events

Croatia’s Jana Koscak has top spot in the heptathlon after the first two events, but there was heartbreak for another of the medal contenders – Hungary’s Sarolta Kriszt – as she suffered a fall in the opening event, the 100m hurdles.

Koscak, who won the European U18 title in 2022, opened her campaign with 13.80 in the hurdles, finishing second behind Czechia’s Adela Tkacova, who clocked 13.72. Switzerland’s Lucia Acklin was close behind in a PB of 13.81, but Kriszt fell and while she got back up to finish the race, she was later disqualified.

Koscak returned to lead performances in the high jump and while her best of 1.81m was some way off her 1.92m PB, it was enough to put her into the No.1 spot overall on 1998 points, ahead of Alina Chistyakova of Kazakhstan (1858), Australia’s Mia Scerri (1795) and Tkacova (1789).

China’s Huang Jingru and Han Bingyang topped the two groups in women’s discus qualification, Huang throwing 56.45m and Han 55.64m. Also surpassing the automatic qualifying mark was Canada’s Julia Tunks, who threw 53.45m. 

Spain’s Laura Martinez led qualifying for the women’s long jump final, the 2022 European U18 bronze medallist soaring a season’s best of 6.37m in group A. Nigeria’s Prestina Oluchi Ochonogor, who competed in the final at the Paris Olympics, was next best with 6.28m, while USA’s Sophia Beckmon, who topped the entry list thanks to the 6.86m PB she set in May, jumped 6.16m to also progress.

Elizabeth Ndudi of Ireland secured the last place in the final. Both she and Dunja Sedlacek of Serbia had a best of 5.95m, but Ndudi advanced courtesy of her superior second-best leap.

Kesidis launches himself into hammer final

One throw was all it took for Iosif Kesidis of Cyprus to keep his hammer gold medal hopes alive as he qualified with the farthest throw of the morning. The 19-year-old managed 78.53m – far surpassing the automatic qualifying mark of 73.00m – and will return for the final on Thursday, where he will aim to become his country’s first ever world U20 champion and improve on the bronze medal he claimed in Cali two years ago.

Also achieving the auto mark in group A was Roland Imre with a PB of 75.26m, while group B was topped by his Hungarian teammate Armin Szabados, who threw 74.20m. The top non-automatic qualifiers were USA’s Ryan Johnson (72.88m) and China’s Xu Zheng (71.09m). Georgios Papanastasiou of Greece, who has thrown 77.77m this year, will not join them in the final as he was unable to record a mark from his three attempts.

Yannick Rolvink and Georg Harpf, who have respectively thrown PBs of 21.81m and 20.61m this year, will be among the leading contenders in the men’s shot put final. Dutch U20 record-holder Rolvink met the automatic qualifying mark of 19.70m with his first attempt of 19.87m, while Germany’s Harpf launched the shot 20.32m after a 19.51m opener.

That 20.32m was the best of the morning, while Alexandr Mazur launched a Moldovan record of 20.11m to go beyond 20 metres for the first time and secure his spot in the final. South Africa’s JL van Rensburg’s also got a PB of 20 metres to join them.

One of the leading contenders will miss out, however, as US U20 champion Ben Smith, who won that national title with a PB throw of 20.57m, fouled his three attempts.

Paris Olympian Ethan Olivier finished fourth in the triple jump in Cali in 2022 and he qualified for his second consecutive world U20 final as he leapt 16.37m to surpass the auto qualifying mark of 16.00m. Also achieving the mark were USA’s Sterling Scott (16.29m PB), China’s Ma Yinglong (16.21m) and USA’s Karson Gordon (16.19m).

Jess Whittington for World Athletics