LIMA (Peru) – 29 August 2024:
Wang Xiaobo brought China’s first-ever medal in the U20 men’s javelin throw on the third day of the ongoing World U20 athletics championships here on Thursday. Earlier, two Chinese women, Liang Li (1998) and Li Lingwei (2012), won silver medals at this event.
With the podium-finishers in the recent edition of the Asian U20 championships in Dubai, Indians Dipanshu Sharma and Rohan Yadav, and Korea’s Jeong Jun-Seok crashes out in the qualifying rounds in Lima, two Chinese throwers Ke Yang and Wang Xiaobo trying to salvage some pride from the Asian side.
At the end of the first round, Ireland’s Joyce Oisin led the competition with a new national junior mark of 73.89m, while Yang followed him by logging 71.83m. Xiaobo snatched the lead with his second-round 75.28 and remained at the pole position after landing the spear at 75.50m when the competition approached midway.
Xiaobo holds a PB of 80.61m from last year and registered a World U20 lead of 76.68m this season while claiming the bronze medal in the Chinese senior nationals in Rizhao. He looked formidable to take the title in Lima until the last round. Slovakian Tom Tersek, moved to the bronze position at the penultimate round with his 73.41m throw. That pushed Ke Yang to the fourth position. In the sixth and final round, Tersek unleashed the spear to a fantastic 76.81m to nail the gold. Oisin’s opening effort fetched him the bronze.
In 2016, India’s Neeraj Chopra became the first Asian javelin thrower to win the World U20 title with the World Junior Record of 86.48m in Bydgoszcz. Japan’s Genki Dean won a silver medal in 2010.
Yinglong braces with a bronze in the Triple Jump:
Ma Yinglong received his first major international medal, a silver, in last year’s Asian U20 championships at Yecheon, Korea, by leaping to a personal best of 16.22m. He was not part of the Chinese national team that participated in this year’s Asian junior championships in Dubai. However, Yinglong and Xu Hetong, who finished second and third in this year’s national junior championships in Daqing, made it to their national team in Lima.
Yinglong faultered on his opening jump in Lima. However, he quickly amended his run-up towards the board to remain in the fray with a legal 16.09m at the second round. Hetong, however, struggled to find his rhythm as two of his three jumps were annulled and his only valid jump of the day in the second round measured 15.56m–which was 4 cm shy of the last man in the top eight–thus ended his campaign early. Yinglong, on the other hand, improved his mark to a new PB of 16.30m in the fourth round, which secured him the bronze.
New Zealand’s Ethan Olivier, who finished outside the podium in Cali (Colombia) two years ago, was lucky to produce an excellent Oceanian Junior Record of 17.01m in the penultimate round to finish at the top of the podium in Lima. Karson Gordon (18) from the United States leaped with yet another PB of 16.74m for the silver.
In other events, Xu Zheng finished sixth in the hammer throw (71.81m). In 400m finals, Japan’s Kentaro Shirahata (46.83s) and Indian Jaykumar (46.99s) were fifth and sixth respectively.
South African quarter-miler Okon Udeme (45.69s) and Cyprus hammer thrower Iosif Kesidis (82.80m) won the gold in those events.
Hong Kong, China’s Magnus Johannsson, qualified for the 200m finals. Qatar’s Hatim Oulghazi and Japanese runner Ko Ochiai entered the 800m final. Japan’s Rin Kubo is leading the women’s 800m qualifiers with her semifinal time of 2:03.00 to keep a golden dream alive.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for Asian Athletics
Photos by: Tony Dou
