Team Ireland at the IAAF World U20 Championships

After last week’s heroics at the U18 European Championships in Gyor, attention now turns to the IAAF World U20 Championships in Tampere. With the competition running from 10-15 July, the athletes will be fired up to emulate the success of their U18 Irish teammates.
On Day 1 of the Championships, Jo Keane was the first of the Irish athletes to compete. Making her debut at the World U20 Championships, Jo managed to qualify for the 800m semi-final with a time of 2:09.59.
In a stunning run during the semi-final, Jo ran a personal best in 2:06.91 finishing 5th. In her first 400m, she kept up with the eventual heat winner Fireweyni Hailu running a lap time of 1:00.20. Finishing strong, Jo moved passed Shaquene Foote of Jamaica to secure 5th and her lifetime best run in the 800m. Sadly, this wasn’t enough to book her place in the final as Jo narrowly missed out on qualification by two places.
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In the 400m, Beechmount Harriers’ Davicia Patterson qualified for the semi-finals, finishing 2nd behind Taylor Manson with a super time of 53.20.
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Unfortunately in the third heat of the 400m semi-finals, Davicia narrowly missed out on a place in the final by one spot, as she finished 3rd in 53.57. Davicia has been in fine form of late, breaking the U20 National record last month at the Mannheim Gala. Ciara Deely who was ranked 13th in the European U20 400m, just missed out on the semi-final heats by one place finishing 6th in her heat in 54.69.

Nearly time for Ciara Deely at World Juniors. pic.twitter.com/WgHqNJOsAt

— Club TLG (@ClubTLG) July 10, 2018

On Day 2 of the Championships, Team Ireland got underway in the sprint events. Ciara Neville who has been dominating the field back home, ran a season’s best of 11.54 in the 100m. This qualified her for the semi-finals which take place on the Thursday 12 July, 4.14pm. The first two in each semi-final heat will qualify for the final as well as the the two fastest losers overall. The final takes place at 7:15pm.
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Joining Ciara in the semis is European Junior Under-20 Champion, Gina Akpe-Moses. Despite a DQ scare at the start-line, Gina finished second in the heat to Daija Lampkin of the USA in 11.58. Gina will face another American Twanisah Terry in her semi-final heat, who is currently the fastest junior this season with a time of 10.99.
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Team Ireland seem to be filled with an abundance of talent in the sprint events and they will look to capitalize on this when they compete in the 4x100m relay. With a team of Ciara Neville, Gina Akpe-Moses, Rhasidat Adeleke and Patience Jumbo Gula, all eyes will be fixated on this race. The heats will take place on Friday 13 July at 4.05pm and should the girls reach the final, it will take place at 2.04pm on Saturday 14 July.
Timetable (Irish Time):

• 100m Semi-Final: Thursday 12th July 4.14pm
• 100m Final: Thursday 12th July 7.15pm
• 4x100m Heat: Friday 13th July 4.05pm
• 4x100m Final: Saturday 14th July 2.04pm
• 110mh Heat: Friday 13th July 7.35am
• 110mh Semi-Final: Saturday 14th July 11.55am
• 110mh Final: Sunday 15th July 11.35am
• 10km Walk: Saturday 14th July 7.35am
• High Jump Qualification: Friday 13th July 9.30am
• High Jump Final: Sunday 15th July 11.30am

Catch all the action on the IAAF Athletics YouTube page:

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