Junior track roundup: Lalonde breaks record
Genevieve Lalonde of Moncton, N.B., thrilled her hometown crowd with a Canadian record performance at the IAAF world junior track and field championships Tuesday.
Lalonde finished second in her heat for the women's 3,000-metre steeplechase in 10 minutes 3.88 seconds on the first full day of racing at Stade de Moncton.
"I felt pretty good," Lalonde said. "It was a little too fast, but I'm very happy. I'm going to get ready for the final, going to get some rest now and enjoy the ride.
"Running at home was awesome, Looking forward to doing it again in [Thursday's] final."
Danelle Woods set the previous Canadian junior mark of 10:13.98 in 2007.
Ethiopia's Bertukan Adama's won the heat in 10:01.46. Kenya's Purty Cherotich Kirui ran 9:52.77 to win the other heat, closely followed by Ethiopia's Almaz Ayona in 9:53.33.
Several Canadian athletes had strong performances in the meet's morning session.
Aaron Brown of Toronto ran a wind-aided 10.37 seconds to finish second in his 100-metre heat behind Belgium's Julien Watrin (10.31).
"I felt it went pretty good," said Brown, silver medallist at last year's world youth championships "I didn't get the best of starts. I just held myself to the end.
"My start is always my weakness, but I feel I can get off better than I did — better reaction time, better drive phase. If I can do that I know I can go a lot faster [in Wednesday's semifinals]."
Too windy for record
The race was run with a tailwind of 2.2 metres per second — over the allowable 2.0 for record recognition.
American Charles Brown won the fifth heat in 10.33 with an allowable wind, with favourite and reigning champion Dexter Lee of Jamaica fastest in Heat 2 in 10.38.
Tiffany Perkins of Abbotsford, B.C., threw 48.46 metres to qualify for Wednesday's women's javelin final, topping her previous best throw of 47.42 set two weeks ago at the Canadian junior trials.
In the evening session, Mohammed Ahmed of St. Catharines, Ont., finished fourth in the men's 10,000-metre final.
Kenya's Dennis Masai won in 27 minutes 53.88 seconds, followed by Ethiopia's Gebretsadik Abraha in 28:03.45 and Paul Lonyangata of Kenya in 28:14.55.
Ahmed, who attends the University of Wisconsin, finished in 29:11.75. He said he was surprised the pace picked up after just 2,000 metres.
"I could not believe they broke that early," Ahmed said. "I decided to stay tough and work my way up. I am more of a one-rhythm runner."
Andrew Nixon of Guelph, Ont., finished 13th in 30:35.43.
Jared Heldman of Langley, B.C., is in 13th position after the first day of the decathlon with 3,836 points, while Taylor Stewart of London, Ont., qualified for the long jump final with a jump of 7.75 metres.