Poor air quality, notable performances on Day 1 of World U20 meet
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The World Athletics U20 Championships kicked off its five-day track and field meet Aug. 5 with Hayward Field – and all of the Eugene-Springfield area – shrouded in a think haze of smoke-filled air.
Regional wildfires made air quality an issue Wednesday as the AQI measured by Lane Regional Air Protection Agency soared to 237 during the evening session of the meet, a level deemed “very unhealthy” by LRAPA.
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Meet organizers provided athletes, coaches and support staff with N95 masks and athletes also had access to enclosed tents with air conditioning if they wanted to escape the smoky air.
Jaslene Massey, an 18-year-old women’s thrower for Team USA from Orange County, Calif., was one of a few athletes to wear a mask.
“I’m asthmatic,” Masey said. “The smoke got into my lungs yesterday and I was wheezing and coughing.”
Massey took the mask off Wednesday long enough to make just one throw during her qualification round of the discus. That attempt went 182 feet to automatically advance her into Thursday’s final.
Massey is the U20 world leader in the discus. She’ll be a freshman on the Oregon track and field team next season.
“This is my home regardless of the fires, regardless of how clear it is,” Massey said. “I just want to leave it all out there.”
Massey has a big day on tap Thursday. She has her shot put qualifying round at 10 a.m., the final in the discus at 6 p.m., and the shot put final at 7:40 if she qualifies.
“Survive and advance,” Massey said. “I try not to get too ahead of myself.”
USA vs. Jamaica set for pair of sprint showdowns Thursday
There were no missteps among the favorites during Wednesday's preliminary and semifinal rounds of the men’s and women’s 100 meters.
American’s Tate Taylor and Kyler Brown breezed their way into Thursday’s men’s final, as did world U20 leader Gary Card of Jamaica.
Taylor ran the fastest time in the semifinals with his heat win in 10.06 seconds. Brown and Card each clocked 10.16 to advance. Second fastest was South Africa’s Marko Ferreira, who finished in 10.13.
In the women’s 100, American twins Mia and Mariah Maxwell are in the final, as are Jamaicans Theianna-Lee Terrelonge and Shanoya Dougles.
Mia Maxwell was the leader of the semifinals with a time of 11.13. Douglas, who is the world U20 leader, and Terrelonge each crossed in 11.21, and Mariah Maxwell recorded an 11.25.
Oregon sophomore competes in men’s 5,000
With a month to go until the start of Oregon cross country season, Juan Gonzalez logged one more race on the track.
The Duck sophomore finished 12th in the men’s 5,000 in 13:59, more than 30 seconds behind the winner.
“It’s such a huge honor being able to represent America the best way possible,” he said. “Placing 12th was disappointing but I’ll just use that as fuel for the future. … I just wanted to go out there and put myself in it. I knew there was a lot of good competition out here.”
Kenyans went 1-2 with Frankline Kibet finishing first in 13:28.27 and Nehemiah Kipngeno taking second in 13:30.09.
Charity Cherop of Uganda came into the women’s 5,000 final as the prohibitive favorite and was never challenged.
Cherop, who has a U20 world-leading time 10 seconds faster than anyone else, dominated the field Wednesday with a win in 15:03.88. Ethiopa’s Shito Gumi was second in 15:07.91 and Kenya’s Joyline Chepkemoi was third in a PR 15:09.08.
Other notable results
- Future Oregon Duck Mia Uusorg of Estonia is in ninth place in the heptathlon with 3,363 points after four-of-seven events. Uusorg set personal bests in the 100 hurdles with a 13.71 and in the shot put with a mark of 37-2¼. She is 313 points behind the leader, Enni Virjonen of Finland.
- Brazil’s Alessandro Borges hit a big throw late in the competition to rally for the title in the men’s shot put. Borges moved into first place after throwing 66-9¼ on his fifth attempt, overtaking Si-Hook Park of South Korea, who finished second a66-3¾.
- Mixed 4x400 relay final: Team USA dominated the mixed 4x400 relay, as the team of Joshua Shelton, Taylor-Nicole Overton, Jaelen Hunter and Olivia Harris won gold in 3:15.31 and led for the final three laps. Czechia earned silver in 3:18.16 and Australia bronze in 3:18.45.
Chris Hansen covers University of Oregon football, men’s basketball, track and field, cross country and softball for The Register-Guard. You can reach him at [email protected] and you can follow him on X @chansen_RG
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Poor air quality, notable performances on Day 1 of World U20 meet