Day two of the World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi promises fireworks with nine gold medals, nine Silver and nine Bronze medals up for grabs.
Morning action will have heats and heptathlon action with the afternoon session’s mostly finals kick off with the women’s javelin before the men’s pole vault, men’s shot put, heptathlon 800m, women’s discus, men’s 5000m, women’s 3000m, women’s 100m and men’s 100m.
The men’s and women’s 100m final
The women’s 100m final will take place at 5:30pm with the men’s final set for 5:50pm local time.
In the women’s race, Beatrice Masilingi broke the Namibian national record to cruise into the final. Masilingi will square out with the likes of Tin Clayton of Jamaica, Nigeria’s Praise Ofoku Serbia's Ivana Ilic, Switzerland's Melissa Gutschmidt, Czech Republic's Eva Kubickov, Slovakia’s Viktoria Forster and Jamaica’s Kerrica Hill. This will be a very close race to call.
The Men’s 100m also has some good names that emerged from the Wednesday semis.
Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo also ran a national U20 record in the heats and then improved to 10.11 - a senior national record - to qualify quickest for the men's 100m final. Oman's Ali Anwar al Balushi won the second semifinal in a national U20 record of 10.27 and Nigeria's Godson Oke Oghenebrume the third semifinal in 10.22. They will be joined in the final by Poland’s Oliwer Wdowik, Italy’s Matteo Melluzo, Benjamin Richardson of South Africa, Grenada's Nazzio John and Shainer Rengifo Montoya of Cuba.
At 5pm local time, Kenya’s Zena Jemutai will be out to seek for gold in the women’s 3000m, After Wednesday's disappointing show in the men’s version, Zena together with Teresia Muthoni Gateri will be out to make amends. The Kenyans will however be wary of their East African rivals, Uganda, who are represented here by Prisca Chesang, a 9:04.15 performer this season. South Africa’s Carmie Prinsloo is also a threat along with Finland’s Ilona Mononen, Burundi’s Jeanine Kezimana and Poland’s Olimpia Breza, who have all gone below 9:20 this year.
Men’s 1500m Heats
After ‘being replaced’ by Timothy Cheuiyot in the Olympics team, Kamar Etyang will be aiming to make a statement when the chase for gold starts today. Etyang will be in the company of national trials winner Vincent Keter who has already shown signs of being a star in the distance. Kenya has dominated the junior events in the distance since 2012 and they will be hoping to maintain the norm on home soil.
The 800m men and women heats also take place today together with the men’s 5000m men final.
Day Two events:
Morning Session
Time Sex Event Round
10:05 M 800 Metres Heats
10:39 W Javelin Heptathlon
10:50 W 800 Metres Heats
Afternoon Session
Time Sex Event Round
14:40 W Javelin Final
15:00 M Pole Vault Final
15:20 M Shot Put Final
15:40 M 1500 Metres Heats
16:00 W Tripple Jump Qualifitcation
16:05 W 800 Metres Heptathlon
16:25 W Discus Throw Final
16:30 M 5000 Metres Final
17:00 W 3000 Metres Final
17:30 W 100 Metres Final
17:50 M 100 Metres Final
Disclaimer : Teamkenya.co.ke is not affiliated with the Kenyan Under 20 Athletics team