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Hardy wins 100m gold at World Youth Champs
| BRESSANONE, Italy -Italian born Prezel Hardy won Team USA’s first-ever gold medal in the boys 100m Thursday evening at the 2009 IAAF World Youth Championships in Bressanone, Italy. In the midst of heavy rain and after one false start, Hardy charged out of the blocks and kicked into high gear at the halfway point and continued to surge over the final 50 meters, crossing the line in a victorious 10.57. Hardy, who now lives in Killeen, Texas, was born on a military base in Vicenza, Italy. In the semi-final, Hardy had the fastest time winning heat 1 in 10.38. Kori Carter (Claremont, Calif.) won Team USA’s second medal of the competition and in the blink of an eye Bridgette Owens (Oak Park, Mich.) won the third. Carter had a much better start this go around, and hurdled her way to the silver medal in the girls 100m hurdles, finishing in a personal best 13.26. Owens was just behind her, setting claiming the bronze medal and her second personal best of the day in 13.39. In the semi-final round, Bridgette Owens was second in heat 2 in a then-personal best 13.46. After being distracted at the start and failing to get out of the blocks quickly, Kori Carter finished second in heat 3 in 13.61. Ashton Purvis (Oakland, Calif.) was second out of the blocks in the girls 100m final, but it was Great Britain’s Jodie Williams who stormed to the gold medal in a world youth leading 11.39. Purvis powered her way to the finish in 11.48, earning the bronze medal in the process. Jordan Clark (Southfield, Mich.) finished fifth in 11.76. Earlier, in the semi-finals, Purvis won heat 2 in 11.53 and Jordan Clark was third in heat 1 in 11.63. In the boys long jump final that was marred by the rain for the final three jumps, Leon Samuels (Charlotte, N.C.) finished sixth with a best mark of 7.35m/24-1.5. Carlton Lavong (Collegeville, Pa.) was 14th with 7.02m/23-0.5. Minutes before the start of the girls 400m semi-final, the skies opened up and the rain started. In an effort to get out of the rain faster, Ebony Eutsey (Miami, Fla.) made up the stagger in the first 150m and won her heat in 53.99. Michelle Brown (Shamong, N.J.) was second in heat two in 54.77. In the boys 400m semi-final, Josh Mance (Pomona, Calif.) was second in heat 2 in 46.65. David Smith (Jonesboro, Ga.) and Dwayne Golbek (Claremore, Ok.) each cleared the automatic qualifier of 2.10m/6-11 in the boys high jump qualifying rounds and advanced to Saturday’s final. Bronson Duran (Albuquerque, N.M.) ran a hard-fought 800m in the boys semi-final round, taking the lead 350m into the race and passing 400m in 55.04. But the pace proved to be too much for Duran as Nicholas Kipkoech (KEN) picked it up to win in 1:50.85 and Duran finished sixth in 1:53.59. Team USA medal table as of July 9: Gold (1) Prezel Hardy (Killeen, Texas) boys 100m, 10.57 Silver (2) Kori Carter (Claremont, Calif.) girls 100m hurdles, 13.26 Ryan Crouser (Damascus, Ore.) boys discus throw, 61.64m/202-2 Bronze (2) Ashton Purvis (Oakland, Calif.) girls 100m, 11.48 Bridgette Owens (Oak Park, Mich.) For more information on Team USA and the 2009 IAAF World Youth Championships, visit www.usatf.org. For complete results, visit www.iaaf.org. ATHLETE QUOTES Prezel Hardy – boys 100m gold medalist “I feel great, I feel amazing, I feel Ebony Eutsey – girls 400m semi-finals
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USA
Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and
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USATF encompasses the world’s oldest organized sports, some of the
most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the #1 high school and
junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult
runners in the United States.
For more information on USATF, visit www.usatf.org
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