Reece Ademola (Leevale AC) jumped a superb new national U20 record on Day One of the World U20 Athletics Championships in Cali, Colombia.
Ademola booked his place in Tuesday night’s final by jumping a new PB of 7.76m, (-0.2m/s) an 8cm improvement on his previous best which came at the Cork City Sports last month. His jump surpassed Ciaran McDonagh’s 27-year-old Irish U20 record. McDonagh remains the national senior record holder and is the only Irish man in history to break eight metres in the event.
Only three other athletes jumped further than the Cork man in qualification. Cuban athlete Alejandro A Parada will go into the final as the man to beat after he produced a best of 7.95m in the morning session at the Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero.
Ademola, who is 19 years old who and coached by Liz Coomey will be hoping he can now contend for a medal. His performance in qualification moves him to fourth on the Irish All-Time list for the event.
Elsewhere on Day One, Dean Casey (Ennis Track AC) finished 13th in the Men’s 5000m.
The race was ran at a pedestrian pace early on and Casey did well to go with the moves when they came however, he became detached from the leaders in the final mile.
The Clare man who last month won silver over 1500m at the Irish Life Health National Junior Track and Field Championships crossed the line in 14.37.79. Casey was the first European to finish.
It has been a very impressive season for the 19-year-old who back in May ran a sensational Irish U20 10,000m record in London clocking 28.57.32.
Three Irish athletes will be in action on Day Two of the championships. As mentioned, Reece Ademola will go in the Men’s Long Jump final from 10:16pm Irish Time.
Before that Lucy McGlynn (Tír Chonaill AC) takes to the track in the heats of the Women’s 400m Hurdles at 6:05pm. The first three advance automatically, with six non-automatic qualifiers also making the semi-finals. McGlynn won bronze in the event at June’s Irish Life Health National Senior Track and Field Championships where she ran her PB of 60.00s.
Lucy-May Sleeman (Leevale AC) goes in the heats of the Women’s 100m at 6:37pm. Sleeman will be hoping her fantastic season can continue in Colombia. The first three in each heat will progress to the semi-final along with three non-automatic qualifiers.
