Dear Friends,
Stories from the first day of competition in Ostrava – stories are also available on the OAA webage!
OSTRAVA – RESULTS DAY 1
It was a day of Personal Bests for the athletes from the Pacific Oceania Athletic Federations, with no less than eight personal bests coming from the day!
In the women’s 100 metre heats, Mystique Jone, Nauru was the fastest Pacific Island woman with a season best of 12.88. But for Samantha Lockington, Cook Islands and Vanessa Midar the thrill of personal bests at the World Youth Championships is something they will always remember. Samantha was 7th in her heat with a time of 13.88 while Vanessa ran 14.61. This is a great effort for each of girls, especially considering the lack of facilities in each of their Federations.
Australia’s Olivia Tauro was the fastest Oceania girl in the 100 metre heats with a time of 11.83, while Jacinta Doyle was also a qualifier to the next round with 12.03.
The boys weren’t to be outdone and and for each of the boys in the 100 metres it was a personal best. Leota Folau, American Samoa had to overcome some difficult travel plans to arrive in Ostrava and arrived in the knick of time to compete in the 100 metres where he ran a personal best. For the two Tahiti athletes Terootae Urarii and Thomas Slowinski there will be plenty of competition in their next race after they both posted personal bests of 11.43 and 11.40 respectively.
Tanroo Taniera would have surprised even himself with a time of 11.42 in the 100 metres, but after an outstanding season in Kiribati he can look forward to his times continuing to drop.
Adison Alfred, Solomon Islands, was the fastest Oceania boy in the 100 metres with a time of 11.25, again another personal best. Alfred will now head to Cairns as a member of the Oceania Grand Prix Squad.
In the 110 hurdles, Kenneth Krosich from Guam was another come away from the Championships with a personal best of 15.18. Kenneth now heads to the IAAF World Championships in Osaka as a guest of the IAAF after being one of three Oceania athletes selected from the World Athletics Day draw.
The first morning of competition at the IAAF World Youth Champioships was a good day for Oceania Athletes, with 8 personal bests and one season best.
FIJI ATHLETE THROUGH TO SEMI FINAL
Isoa Me from the Fiji Islands has made it through to the Semi-Final of the Boys’400 metres at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic. A personal best time of 49.02 sees Isoa run in semi-final 2 in lane 7 on Friday morning Fiji time.
It certainly won’t be an easy task for Isoa to make it through to the final with the top 2 from each semi-final and the next two fastest times going through, but all of us will behind Isoa all of the way.
