Lagos – Nigerian sprint hurdler, Tobi Amusan and Poland shot putter, Konrad Bukowiecki have broken the under-20 continental records in their respective track and field world events.
A statement posted on the website of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) on Monday confirmed the results.
It said Amusan, a student at the University of Texas at El Paso, was a convincing winner of the 100m hurdles on her home track at the UTEP Invitational on April 30.
The statement stated that “aided by El Paso’s altitude and a following breeze of 0.4m/s, the 19-year-old produced the first sub-13-second run of her career to win in 12.83sec”.
“Although her time is faster than Spanish Aliuska Lopez’s official world U-20 record of 12.84, Amusan’s mark won’t be ratified as there was no post-race drugs test.
“Dior Hall’s of U.S. 12.74 clocking last year was not ratified as a world U-20 record for the same reason, ‘’ it said.
It further said that Amusan’s mark was an improvement on her own African junior record and would stand as the second-fastest time ever by a junior.
The statement also quoted Amusan as saying that she was pleased to see dream come through.
“It was a really nice race and my plan was just to get out of the blocks.
“When I first looked at the scoreboard and it said 13.3 (seconds) I was very mad, but when the official results popped up and said 12.83 I said `yes’!
“It is really a privilege to run sub 13, it is great to see my goal come true that I have been training for over the past year,’’ the statement quoted Amusan as saying.
Amusan, who last year won the African junior and African Games titles, went on to win the 200m in El Paso in a personal best of 23.24.
For Bukowiecki, the world junior champion opened his 2016 outdoor campaign with a record-breaking throw in Bojanowo on May 1.
“Competing with the 6kg shot, the 19-year-old opened his series with 21.41m, and then sent his implement out to a European junior record of 22.91m in the third round.
“Bukowiecki broke David Storl’s mark of 22.73m from 2009.
“By the end of the competition, Bukowiecki had improved again, extending the record to 22.94m,’’ the statement said.
It stated that his winning mark was the second-best junior performance in history and that it was just six centimetres away from the world U-20 record set by Jacko Gill in 2013.
It added that Bukowiecki, who finished fourth at the IAAF World Indoor Championships tagged “Portland 2016’’, later contested the discus and set a personal best of 60.85m with the 1.75kg implement.
“The result took him to fourth on 2016 U-20 world list,’’ the statement said. (NAN)
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