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Bydgoszcz,
Poland – Marquise Goodwin and Jeneba Tarmoh each garnered the first
gold medals claimed by the United States team at the 12th IAAF World Junior Championships during Tuesday’s evening session of the second day of competition.
Goodwin
(Rowlett, Texas) used a first round leap of 25-4.75 (7.74) to secure
the long jump gold medal. As the competition chased his mark, the
closest they could get was a 25-0.75 (7.64) by Dzmitry Astrouski of
Belarus. Christian Taylor (Atlanta, Georgia) placed seventh in the
field with a 24-3.75 (7.41).
A mark of 25-0 (7.62)
followed a foul in the second round for Goodwin, who became the last
jumper for the final three rounds. In the fourth round a 24-7.75 (7.51)
preceded a foul while his last round effort measured 24-6.5 (7.48).
With
the victory Goodwin becomes the third American to claim the World
Junior title in the long jump. He joins James Stallworth (1990) and
Neil Chance (1992). Tone Belt was a silver-medalist in 2006.
In
the women’s 100 meter final Tarmoh (San Jose, California) had the best
reaction to the gun (.154) among the eight finalist and drove out hard
from that quick start. With Great Britain’s Ashlee Nelson offering a
solid challenge, Tarmoh remained ahead of the field and sped to an
11.37 victory into a -0.4 headwind.
Nelson posted
an 11.49 for silver as Sheniqua Ferguson of the Bahamas finished third
in 11.52. South Carolina’s Shayla Mahan placed fifth in 11.66.
Tarmoh
became the third American to win the women’s 100 World Junior title in
the last four Championships and the fourth U.S. winner in the past five
meets. Previous U.S. champions at this meet include: Sabrina Kelly
(1994), Shakedia Jones (1998), Lauryn Williams (2002) and Ashley Owens
(2004).
The men’s 100 provided a showdown between
a pair of Jamaicans and U.S. sprinter Terrell Wilks of Florida.
However, it was the lesser known Jamaican, Dexter Lee, upsetting the
field with a 10.40 victory.
Lee’s personal best
of 10.33 seconds fell into the shadows of the 10.11 held by fellow
Jamaican Yohan Blake, as well as the 10.19 recorded by Wilks.
South
Africa’s Wilhelm van der Vyver ran 10.42 for runner-up honors as Wilks
crossed the line in 10.45 for the bronze medal. Blake finished fourth
in 10.51. The race, run in cool evening temperatures, went into a
headwind of -0.8 meters per second.
Wilks becomes
the fifth American bronze medalist in this event, joining Rodney
Bridges (1990), Tony McCall (1992), Deworski Odom (1994) and Willie
Hordge (2002).
Earlier in the evening session,
amid cool temperatures and another shower, the U.S. sprint squad
advanced all four 400 runners to the finals.
Texas
A&M’s Jessica Beard and Lanie Whittaker (Miami, Florida) qualified
in the women’s 400 as Mississippi State’s O’Neal Wilder and Baylor’s
Marcus Boyd moved on in the men’s race.
In
powering through her 400 heat Beard posted the second fastest time of
the semifinal with her 52.59, nearly a full second ahead of the
runner-up in her race. Nigeria’s Shade Abugan won the first heat in a
leading time of 51.92.
Whittaker was also in that
fast first heat, which started during the drizzle that eventually
turned into a shower for the second heat. Whittaker placed fourth in
the race with a 53.61, but moved to third when Trinidad and Tobago’s
Britany St. Louis was disqualified. Whittaker was the top qualifier on
time for the final.
The men’s 400 started with an
interesting race between Boyd and James Kirani of Grenada. A smooth
start had Boyd as the early leader, then Kirani challenged through the
curve and won in 46.55 while Boyd claimed the second automatic
qualifying position with a 46.88. Boyd’s mark was sixth best from the
semifinals.
Wilder cruised to a leading time of
46.09 in taking the third heat, where he made up nearly every stagger
in front of his lane five start by the 200 mark. Australia’s Kurt
Mulcahy placed second to Wilder with a 46.56.
Another
qualifier for a final round was Louisville’s Chinwe Okoro, who tossed
the shot put 50-6.75 (15.41) to finish fourth in her flight and 10
overall among the 12 who advanced. Becky O’Brien reached a season best
of 48-5.5 (14.77) to place ninth in her flight of the shot put and
finished 16th overall.
Elijah Greer
faced a stiff challenge in the 800 semifinals as he was stationed in
heat two with current world leader Abubaker Kaki Khamis of Sudan. While
Khamis posted the top time of 1:46.71, Greer placed sixth in 1:50.47.
The men’s 10,000 meter final had Donald Cabral placing 17th in 30:47.55 while Daniel Dunbar finished 19th in 30:51.67.
Chase Dalton and Weston Luetz finished the first day of the decathlon separated by only 10 points. Dalton is currently 14th with a total of 3,632 while Luetz is 15th with a tally of 3,622.
QUOTES
Marquise Goodwin, Long Jump, Gold Medalist
“It
was nice to get the winning mark in the first round. I warmed up great
and then remained focused when we came into the stadium.
“In
the final I was more prepared for things, like my mark being moved.
After the qualifying round I remeasured my mark and had a secondary
mark in line with part of the awards podium. This is my first world
competition and the most competition I’ve had, so I had to get it right.
“It’s
every young track athlete’s dream to be out here and competing for the
USA. It’s wonderful to have this kind of opportunity and compete.
“The
jump I won with was my season best mark. I was shooting for 8.00, but
it wasn’t there tonight. I won and that’s what I came here to do.
“This has been a great experience. We have a lot of great athletes competing in the World Championships.
Jeneba Tarmoh, 100 meters, Gold Medalist
“The
false start really threw me off. I was so nervous I think I twisted in
the blocks. I thought I could have got out better, but we always think
this room for improvement in the next race.
“I
never thought this would happen, because as a freshman going into
college competition it’s hard. Everyone is beating you and it’s just
different from the high school level.
“I was looking for an 11.2 in the final, but I’m tired and the others are tired from the rounds we ran.
“During
my freshman season in college I learned that in running on this level
you can’t just expect to be good. In high school I was one of the best
and then in college I’m not quite as fast as some other sprinters. It
helped me learn that losing itself is not a bad thing. You gain
experience with each race and there’s always room for improvement.”
Lanie Whittaker, 400 meters
“I’m
excited to be here, and it was a great opportunity to race against the
current world junior leader in this event. I felt like I gave my all
today, so I’m pleased with my effort even though I’m disappointed I
didn’t PR today.
“Not everybody can make it here, so I’m really proud to be representing the United States in the final of the 400.
“I didn’t want Abugan to be on my mind so much, but after she passed me my main focus was to try to catch her.”
Jessica Beard, 400 meters
“Considering
the weather and all, I was in condition to do even better. It was a
strong wind and the weather chilled down a lot by the time we got on
the track.
“I just wanted to win my heat and run
one of the top three times so I can have one of the top three lanes for
tomorrow. I can go faster tomorrow and I’ll be ready.”
Marcus Boyd, 400 meters
“When
I went to make my move at 250, I almost veered out of my lane. So that
threw me off a little bit. At least I made it to the final. I like to
make my move after the 200, but the runners to the outside of me were
going a bit slower than the pace I normally expect.
“Before
the race I was trying to stay as warm as possible and remain dry as
long as I could. Hopefully the conditions will be better for the final.
“It
should be a great final tomorrow. I just need to go out and perform
like I have this whole school season. Hopefully I’ll come out with the
gold.”
O’Neal Wilder, 400 meters
“I wanted to run the fastest time going into the final so I can win this thing tomorrow with a good lane.
“My performances this season, including this meet, feels like all my hard work is finally coming through.
“Hopefully, Marcus and I can go 1-2 like we did at our Junior Nationals.”
Chinwe Okoro, Shot Put
“Qualifying
was okay. I didn’t do exactly what I wanted to do, but hopefully I can
get it done in the finals. This is the biggest meet I’ve been to,
especially seeing all the other countries that are represented in this
meet. It’s been really fun to compete in this setting.
“College has really prepared me for meets like this compared to what I was doing in high school.
“The
weather was really warm while we were in warm-up and things were going
pretty smooth, but when that cold came it was different and hard to
adjust to.”
Elijah Greer, 800 meters
“Those
guys are fast! Seriously, it was crazy. I wanted to out fast with them
and I wanted to qualify for the final. I think I’m just tired from the
season I’ve had. A lot of the drive you need in the 800 just wasn’t
there. Instead I felt fatigued physically with a very low drive. I know
part of that comes down to experience and learning to push through
that.”
Chase Dalton, Decathlon
“I’ve
had a really long and good season. I was looking forward to this meet,
and having it become reality has been really cool. I thought I was
going to peak here, but I didn’t do as well in the shot put as I could
have.”
Weston Luetz, Decathlon
“The
first day went pretty good. I ran a pretty good time in the 100 and
felt good about that. I PR’ed in the long jump by three inches. Then
the shot put rolled around and I didn’t do as well there. I also didn’t
do very well in the high jump. So, in the 400 I knew I had to run a
good race and I had a little incentive after my high jump.
“The
hurdles will be a key event for me tomorrow, so I’m looking for a lot
of points there. That’s my best event and normally I’m a better second
day person anyways.
“This is definitely an
experience. It’s been my goal since last September to get to the World
Junior Championships this year. Now that I’m here I want to perform my
best to see where it takes me. The competition is world class.”
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