Nigerian female athlete, Ruth Agadama has set her sight of winning the women’s long jump gold medal at the ongoing World U-20 Athletics Championship in Nairobi, Kenya, where she will compete in the final on Sunday.
Agadama will carry Nigeria’s last hope for a third medal at the championship, which ends on the same day in the Kenyan capital, after leaping to a mark of 6.06m in the semi-final and she will now compete in the final before the official close of events.
The opportunity comes after Agadama hit the six metres mark on her last attempt, but fellow-Nigerian jumper, Esther Osisike finished 11th with a first round attempt of 44.68m, after she fouled on the second attempt and then jumped 44.17m on her third attempt.
Megasportsarena.com reports that the championship, which got underway on Wednesday, is expected to end on Sunday, before which Favour Ofili and Udodi Chudi Onwuzurike will also both compete in their respective finals.
All eyes, though, will be on Sasha Zhoya, who blazed to a world U20 110m hurdles record of 12.93s in the semi-final and looks good to win gold on Sunday.
With a PB of 13.02 set in June, as well as a wind-assisted 12.98 to his name, Zhoya is one of the headline acts of this week’s World U20 Championships in Nairobi, and he started his campaign in sensational style.
Opening with a smooth 13.12 to win his heat on Friday morning, the European U20 champion returned to Kasarani Stadium track five and a half hours later, on the cusp of making history.
Lining up in lane 6, Zhoya blasted out of the blocks and flew over the first few barriers. Despite losing his rhythm over the final four hurdles, knocking down three of them, he still managed to achieve the wind legal sub-13, plus the world record, he had been hunting.
His time of 12.93 (-0.4m/s) takes 0.06 off the world U20 record which had been set by his fellow Frenchman Wilhem Belocian in 2014 and equalled by Jamaica’s Damion Thomas in 2018.
Joining him in the final was Colombia’s John Paredes, who finished second behind Zhoya and was inspired to a PB of 13.46, plus Hong Kong’s Siu Hang Cheung, who ran a national U20 record of 13.57 in third.
The first semi-final was won by Jamaica’s Vashaun Vascianna (13.35) from Poland’s Jakub Szymanski (13.50), Erwann Cinna of France (13.51), Qatar’s Saeed Othman Alabsi with a national U20 record of 13.52 and Czech Republic’s Stepan Schubert (13.63).
The women’s 100m hurdles final is another which looks set to be a thriller, with Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent and Switzerland’s Ditaji Kambundji both clocking 13.02 in their respective semifinals.
Also racing for medals will be Poland’s Weronika Barcz (13.36 PB), Jamaica’s Oneka Wilson (13.39), Estonia’s Anna Maria Millend who ran a national U20 record of 13.44, Hungary’s Anna Toth (13.46), Finland’s Sonja Stang (13.59) and Viktoria Forster of Slovak Republic (13.59).
There were also some fast times in the 200m semi-finals, as Namibia’s Olympic sixth-position finisher Beatrice Masilingi led the qualifiers for the women’s 200m with a championship record of 22.19, the day after winning the 100m silver
Her compatriot, Christine Mboma, the Olympic silver medalist, and Nigeria’s Ofili won their heats in 22.41 and 22.37 respectively, which would have been championship records had Masilingi not improved the mark.
In the men’s semi-finals, Nigeria’s Onwuzurike led with a wind-assisted 20.13 (2.3m/s), while Botswana’s recently-crowned 100m champion Letsile Tebogo ran a PB of 20.31.
Tarsis Orogot set a Ugandan U20 record of 20.37 and Blessing Akawasi Afrifah became Israel’s first world U20 sprint finalist since 2008, clocking 20.49.
Ethiopia’s Ayal Dagnachew went quickest in the women’s 800m semifinals, clocking 2:04.26 ahead of Ukraine’s Svitlana Zhulzhyk (2:06.28) and Elli Eftychia Deligianni of Greece (2:06.41).
Spain’s Marina Martinez won the second heat in 2:07.22 from Switzerland’s Valentina Rosamilia (2:07.23) and Slovenia’s Veronika Sadek (2:07.41).
