Day two of the IAAF World U20 Championships saw eight Australian women take centre stage in Finland.
Jarmillia Murphy-Knight, who made her international debut, has made the semi-finals of the 400m after finishing the race strong.
The 18-year-old finished fourth with a personal best of 59.19 seconds and qualified as one of the six fastest non-automatic qualifiers.
‘The atmosphere is great and I absolutely love it,’ says smiley Annamaria Leszczynska after she and Jarmilia Murphy-Knight run sub-60s in the 400 metre hurdle heats! #IAAFTAmpere2018 #ThisisAthletics pic.twitter.com/9kIVVOfjbi
— Athletics Australia (@AthsAust) July 11, 2018
Another debutant and teammate Annamaria Leszczynska was unable to hold her pace down the final 100m and finished sixth in her heat in a solid 59.94, missing out on a place in the semis.
Australian running rising star Riley Day started her Championships in fine form for the 100m with a time of 11.77 seconds to automatically qualify for the semi-finals later this afternoon.
Sprinters Riley Day and Mia Gross have an adrenaline-filled first round of the 100 metres, running 11.77 (+0.4) and 11.80 (+0.8) respectively. ‘I just wanted to go out here today and do what I could to get into the next round,’ Riley tells IAAF and Australia media. pic.twitter.com/jgHP0Dn5R6
— Athletics Australia (@AthsAust) July 11, 2018
Mia Gross placed fifth in her heat with a time of 11.80 seconds and had a nervous wait to see if she was one of the four fastest non-automatic qualifiers.
Unfortunately, she was knocked out in the final heat to miss by one spot, and just 0.03 seconds.
In the women’s 3000m Australians Amelia Mazza-Downie and Lara Crouch finished in the top 10.
Crouch and Mazza-Downie were part of the main pack with eventual gold and silver medalist Japanese duo Nozomi Tanaka and Yuna Wada.
Amelia Mazza-Downie and Lara Crouch finish 6th (9:09.19) and 10th (9:16.28) in the 3,000 metres here at the World U/20 Championships. Another double PB performance here in Tampere, Finland!! pic.twitter.com/QJLj82OYiF
— Athletics Australia (@AthsAust) July 11, 2018
Mazza-Downie finished in sixth place (9:09.19) while Crouch was tenth (9:16.28) as they both ran personal best.
Also on the track was Ella Connolly, who took the win in semi-final three of the 400m, in a season’s best 52.78 seconds and pipped Kenyan Mary Moraa on the line by 0.2 seconds.
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