Mo Youxue in the boys' 100m final at the IAAF World Youth Championships 2013 (© Getty Images)
Mo Youxue scorched to a 10.35 world youth-leading time in taking a dramatic 100m final from Great Britain’s Ojie Edoburun, who clocked the same time in a nail-biting finish.
The photo finish confirmed that only two thousandths of a second separated Mo (10.346) from Edoburn (10.348).
The 17-year-old Chinese sprinter sprinted clear in the dying yards following a strong start and timed his dip-finish to perfection to clinch his nation’s first ever medal in this event in these championships.
Having clocked 10.44 behind Cuba’s Reynier Mena in the semi-final, Mo narrowly improved Kristoffer Hari’s World youth leading time by two hundredths of a second, as Edoburun too enjoyed setting a lifetime best.
The 17-year-old Edoburun follows a long line of successful British sprinters at this event, with Mark Lewis-Francis winning in the inaugural edition in Bydgoszcz 1999, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey taking gold in Marrakech 2005 and Craig Pickering claiming bronze in Sherbrooke 2003.
Mena, meanwhile, clocked a 10.37 personal best for bronze to claim Cuba’s first medal in this discipline at these championships, as the 16-year-old finished clear of pre-event favourite Jamaica’s Michael O’Hara (10.46) in fourth and Barbados’ Mario Burke (10.51) in fifth, respectively.
Nicola Bamford for the IAAF
