Juliette Whittaker runs 2:04.92 in 800m first round at World U20 Championships

CALI, Colombia (August 1) —— American Juliette Whittaker paced all the qualifiers into the semi-final of the U20 women’s 800m after winning her heat in 2:04.92 on Day 1 at the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships here at the Pascual Guerrero Olympic Stadium in Cali, Colombia, on Monday, 1 August.

Juliette Whittaker runs the fastest time in the heats

Whittaker, the pre-championships gold medal favorite, ran a steady pace for most of the two laps before easing to the front in the closing meters to finish with the fastest time of all the qualifiers from the five heats. Read more: Kenyans Cheruiyot and Kimaiyo cruised into World U20 1500m final – Results

“I felt pretty good. We went out a little faster than I was expecting,” said Whittaker on World Athletics. “I was looking around at the last 100m, so I didn’t want to push it if I didn’t need to.

“It’s an incredible feeling to represent with the USA on my jersey, it has been a dream of mine for a while. So that was my main goal going into this year, I really wanted to make these world championships.”

The talented teenager was followed home by Dilek Koçak of Turkey who ran 2:05.37 with Hayley Kitching, of Australia taking third with 2:05.48. Latvia’s Invida Mauriņa clocked a personal best of 2:05.65 to also make progress into the semi-finals as the top four finishers from this heat produced the best times in the early round.

Heat two winner Ksanet Alem of Ethiopia surged away from the pack with 250m left in the race on her way to running 2:05.77, the fifth-fastest time of the first round in the opening morning session.

Abigail Ives of Great Britain took second place with 2:07.35 and third went to Kenya’s Evaline Chepkoech Kipkirwok at 2:07.69.

Also advancing to the semi-final round of the U20 women’s 800m here today were Nelly Chepchirchir of Kenya, the winner of the first heat in 2:06.66, Veronika Sadek of Slovenia (2:07.10), Ethiopia’s Wezam Tesfay (2:09.67), USA’s Roisin Willias (2:09.68) and Claudia Hollingsworth (2:08.21), the heat five winner from Australia.

The semi-finals of the U20 women’s 800m at the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships is Tuesday evening at 5:10 pm ET.

Women’s 800m results from the heats – World U20 Championships