BYDGOSZCZ, Poland – American Noah Lyles led the way in the men’s 100m heats on Day 1 at the IAAF World U20 Championships Bydgoszcz 2016 on Tuesday.
Lyles, who is now the main focus for the event, following the absence of Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah Abkar Mohammed, easily won his heat with a time of 10.28 seconds, which was the fastest of the early round in the morning session.
The U.S. U20 national champion said his main focus was to just qualify and work on his technique.
“It felt really easy,” Lyles told Mile Split when asked about the early round.
“I wasn’t trying to push for anything too fast.
“I kinda slowed down at the end just to give myslef a little bit of energy for tomorrow.”
Filippo Tortu of Italy laid down his mark in the morning session as well when winning the third heat in 10.29 and looked comfortable doing so.
Paulo Andre De Oliveira of Brazil booked his place in the semi-finals when dominating his heat to win in 10.31, which was the third-fastest time of the day.
The other 100m heat winners were Mario Burke of Barbados, who ran 10.31 to take the sixth and final race, with Jack Hale of Australia taking the first heat with an easy 10.50.
Medal contenders Raheem Chambers and Jhevaughn Matherson of Jamaica ran 10.45 and 10.47 in their respective heats to advance to the next stage of the competition.
A total of 24 sprinters booked places to run in three semi-finals on Day 2 Wednesday.
In other results in the morning session on Day 1, Tigist Ketema of Ethiopia led all qualifiers in the U20 women’s 800m with a time of 2:05.51, with Kenya’s Josephine Chelangat (2:05.69), Australia’s Sarah Billings (2:06.13), Bahrain’s Marta Hirpato (2:06.21), Foziya Niguse of Ethiopia (2:06.25) and Canada’s Jazz Shukla (2:06.59) among the other top qualifiers.
USA’s Samantha Watson, the U18 champions from Cali, ran a very relaxed 2:07.30 to win her heat and seems to have a lot more left in the tank for the next round. Alison Andrews-Paul of New Zealand won heat 3 in 2:08.13.
In the women’s 3000 metres Steeplechase heats, Tigist Getnet of Bahrain and Kenya’s Betty Chepkemoi Kibet both ran 9:54.65 to lead the way in the heats, with Agrie Belachew (ETH) 9:54.84 and Peruth Chemutai (UGA) 9:54.85 also dipping under 9:55.
Celliphine Chespol won the second heat with a dominant 9:55.21.
In the men’s 1500m heats Ayoub Sniba of Morocco posted the fastest time of the day with 3:44.59.
Anthony Kiptoo (KEN) 3:44.74, Josh Kerr (GBR) 3:44.86 and Ajay Kumar Saroj (3:44.96) of India also went under the 3:45.00 marker.
In action in the field, defending shot put champion Konrad Bukowicki of Poland launched 21.73m to advance this evening’s final, with Andrei Toader of Romania (21.26m) also looking good.
“I’m really happy,” said Bukowicki. “My first attempt was good – 21.73 and I’ve qualified to the final.
“Now I have to take a rest and I can’t wait for the final.”
Ega Tugsuz of Turkey threw 57.77m to top the field in the U20 women’s javelin qualifying round, Ja’Mari Ward jumped a personal best of 7.96m to lead the way in the men’s U20 long jump, while Cuba’s Maykel Masso goes out to 7.91m for the second best.
