Day 3 ends in Lille

by Joy Kamani
Story by Jim Spier

Photos by Joy Kamani

The evening began with the medal ceremony for the girls 100 meter hurdles.Yesterday Trinity Wilson and Kendell Williams ran for the gold and bronze medals respectively. Kendell continued her quest for gold today with the start of the heptathlon.

Girls Discus Qualifying

Shelbi Vaughan (Legacy, Mansfield, TX), the US leader, got an auto qualifier, improving her US lead to 176-5. Chamaya Turner (Canyon, New Braunfels, TX) did not have a good throw, fouling three times. The leading qualifiers:

53.78 176-5 Shelbi Vaughn USA

52.03 170-8 Natalya Shirobokova Russia

51.18 167-11 Rosalia Vazquez Cuba

51.15 167-9 Floredia Kaloyeraki Greece

50.85 166-10 Filoi Aokuso Australia

50.78 166-7 Bin Feng China

Boys Triple Jump Qualifying

Imani Brown (Reading, PA) and Jaelen Spencer (Sultana, Hesperia, CA) have had better days. Imani jumped 48-2.5 (+1.6) and Jaelen 47-3.75 (+1.9). Here are the leading qualifiers:

15.61 51-2.75 Latario Collie-Minns Bahamas

15.51 50-10.25 Sabelo Ndlovu South Africa

15.31w 50-2.75w Maksim Luaastin Russia

15.22 49-11.25 Levon Aghasyan Armenia

15.22 49-11.25 Tomas Veszelka Slovakia

15.20w 49-10.5w Jean-Noel Cretinoir France

Girls Heptathlon High Jump Qualifying

Kendell Williams (Kell, Marietta, GA) did not jump to her potential, clearing only 5-7.75, worth 879 points. That is 124 points less than the 5-11.25 jump at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals Leading after the first event, she is in 4th after 2 events with a total of 1894 points, 123 points behind the leader, Marjolein Lindemans of Belgium.

Girls Heptathlon Shot Put Qualifying

After two 28' puts, Kendell Williams got her personal best, throwing 32-1 and getting about 80 more points that she would have otherwise. Her prior best was 29-1.25 set at the World Youth trials and, prior to that, at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals, she had thrown 28-9.75. Kendell moved down to 7th overall in the point standings, now with 2409 points. She's 180 points down from gold medal contention and 150 points back from bronze. She should make up some ground in the 200 meters, however.

Boys 110m Hurdles Qualifying

Todd Gurley looked a bit ragged in his race and could manage only 6th, running 14.10 (-2.1). No US athletes will, therefore, advance to the final.

Girls Heptathlon 200m

Kendell Williams ran decently but was not at her best managing only 25.07 [0.2]. (She had run 24.92 [-1.2] at the World Youth trials, and 25.00 [0.0] at the New Balance OutdoorNationals). Even with that, she did move up to 4th overall, now with 3289 points. She's still 141 points out of bronze medal contention.

Girls 800m Semifinal

Amy Weissenbach (Harvard-Westlake, North Hollywood, CA) ran confidently throughout the race, taking the lead just before the 600 meter mark (1:33.49). She started to pull away but was caught with 20 meters to go by Kate Snowden of Great Britain who won 2:05.67 to 2:05.84. Weissenbach will advance to the final. Ajee Wilson (Neptune, NJ) looks like the one to beat overall. That race was led through 600 meters by Jessica Judd of Great Britain, a 2:02.70 runner. Wilson passed her and cruised to the finish, holding off a charging Snowden with ease. When is the last time the US has had two "auto" qualifiers in a world championship 800m at any level? I believe the answer is, "never". Until now.

Boys Hammer Throw Final

Rudy Winkler (Averill Park, NY) fouled twice and finally got a legal throw on his third attempt, throwing 223-7. That put him in ninth place and only eight get three more throws. The leader after 3 rounds is the world record holder, Bence Pasztor of Hungary, with a meet record 270-7.

Boys 400m Final

Wow! Arman Hall (St.Thomas Aquinas, Fort Lauderdale, FL) went after it and got it. He went out fast, and the only question was, "Can he hold off the Kenyan?" He did, with relative ease, running 46.01 for a World Youth lead and improving on his US high school lead. His prior PR was at the Florida state meet (46.22) almost exactly two months ago.

Girls 400m Final

This was a tough field, with defending World Junior champion, Shaunae Miller of Bahamas and world leader Chrisann Gordon of Jamaica. Robin Reynolds (Jackson, Miami, FL) was in the race for most of it, only to fade badly and be passed by surprise bronze medallist Olivia James of Jamaica. It was Shaunae Miller winning in a PB 51.84, followed by another surprise, Christian Brennan of Canada who ran 52.12. Robin Reynolds improved her seasonal best time (and US high school lead) in fourth at 52.72. Kendall Baisden, stuck in lane 8, had a rough time of it, managing only 53.01 in 6th.

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