IAAF World U20 Championship highlights
20 July 2018
Australia is promised a bright future in athletics following a very successful IAAF World Under 20 Championships in Tampere, Finland.
The six day competition showcased the world’s greatest young talent across all track and field disciplines and featured some of Queensland’s very own rising stars.
Ash Moloney’s gold medal-winning performance in the men’s decathlon was undoubtedly a competition highlight for the Aussies. Scoring 8,190 points across the two-day event, Moloney not only recorded a personal best, but also broke the Australian under 20 record an world under 20 championships record.
Day four of the competition saw Montanna McAvoy and Brielle Erbacher race in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase final and finish 13th and 15th respectively in what were very challenging weather conditions.
Townsville local, Nash Lewis threw a mammoth 75.31m on day five of the competition to secure the gold medal in the men’s javelin. On the same day, Katie Hayward finished 5th in the women’s 10,000m race walk and Samantha Johnson was part of the women’s 4x100m relay team who placed 7th in the final and broke the national under 20 record set in 2004 by Sally Pearson, Jacinta Boyd, Michelle Cutmore and Rebecca Negus.
The last day of the competition saw Australia’s medal count increase to five with the women’s 4x400m relay team claiming a silver medal behind the Americans. Queensland’s Ella Connolly and Cara Jardine were part of the silver medal winning quartet who stopped the clock in a time of 3:31.36.
A massive congratulations to the entire team and Athletics Australia on such a successful meet. The Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) is very much looking forward to seeing what the future hold for these talented young athletes.
View the full results from the IAAR World Under 20 Championships.