Spikes27 Jul 2014


The TrackTown wrap III

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The final two days of Oregon 2014 had 16 finals crammed into six hours of action at Hayward Field. It was short but devilishly sweet, like this final edition of the SPIKES TrackTown wrap.

 

Laying down a Markovic

 

 
marko

 

Croatia's Martin Markovic only made two legitimate throws in the discus final but both were good enough for gold. His round four 66.64m was a lifetime best and the furthest by a junior this year. It's safe to say he was pretty happy about it.

"I feel great. I'm so happy," said the 18-year-old discus chucker. "All I can say is: happy, happy, happy. World juniors, wow! The people are so nice here."

 

MVP

 

 
Lake wrap

 

Morgan Lake won gold with a new heptathlon world youth record of 6148pts earlier this week, on the same track that Ashton Eaton set his decathlon world record, and 92pts better than the legendary Carolina Kluft managed on her way to 2000 world junior gold.

Lake, 17, went on to win high jump gold on day six with 1.93m (which would have been a PB had she not jumped 1.94m in the heptathlon). It's the first time since Harold Osborne at the 1924 Paris Olympics that anyone has done that kind of double in a global competition.

Scarily for European high jumpers, Lake will go again at the Zurich 2014 Euro Champs in two weeks time.

 

Team game

 

 
US fans

 

Of the 44 medal events, one quarter were won by American athletes. Cheered on by a total of 51,532 fans, their 21 medal haul is the biggest by the USA at any world juniors.

Kenya were the other standout team, with four golds and 16 medals. Germany won the third-most amount of medals (seven) but none of them gold.

If everyone with the name Kendal, Kendall or Kendell formed their own team, they would have placed third in the medal table with five golds. Go Team Kend-L!

All of Japan's six medals were won by men, and had Morgan Lake chosen the Commonwealth Games, Great Britain would have been eleventh, rather than fourth, in the medal table.

 

Like Lazaro

 

 
Like Lazaro

 

After the conclusion of day five's evening session, some of the world's finest senior athletes arrived at Hayward Field to take part in a high performance meet. Olympic champion Christian Taylor won the triple jump with a leap of 17.04m and a friendly tailwind.

On day six (in the same pit and with less of a tailwind) 16-year-old Cuban athlete Lazaro Martinez showed him how it's done. His first two jumps, 17.08m and 17.13m, secured an emphatic gold medal; his country's first. This kid is special. 

He won't be getting carried away, either. Journalist Javier Clavelo Robinson told SPIKES that Martinez is one of the most level-headed, hard-working and thoughtful athletes on the Cuban circuit.

 

Sleepless in TrackTown

 

 
Cakks

 

It was so hot on day six, Latvian javelinist Gatis Cakks (above) couldn't get to sleep until after 4am. And in his final later that day, it took him a while to wake up.

After five throws he was snoozing along in fifth, before a final round PB of 74.04m took him more than a metre clear of his competition for gold.

 

Pon de relay

 

 
relay wrap

 

Team USA went 4-0 in the sprint relays on days five and six at Hayward Field, and rarely looked in any trouble. 

As a result, Kaylin Whitney; Kendal Williams (both 100m and 4x100m); Trentavis Friday (200m and 4x100m); Kendall Baisden (400m and 4x400m) and Shamier Little (400m hurdles and 4x400m) all became double world champions.

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