Kaylin Whitney pleaded her case after a possible false start. The officials agreed raising the yellow card and giving her another breath of hope. Whitney relieved, took full advance of the second chance. Coming in with the fastest time in the world and the fastest time coming into the finals, the sixteen year old darted out to a quick start and ran the turn perfectly holding off the likes of Irene Ekelund of Sweden and 100m silver medalist Angela Tenoria of Ecuador to win in wind-aided time of 22.82.
Baylor freshman and former Lakewood High School hurdler T.J. Holmes ended his year with a bronze medalist in the 400m hurdles. Holmes got off to a great start along side Jamaican Jaheel Hyde, but fell behind Hyde coming around the 200 meter mark. A speedy finish in the final hurdles by Ali Khamis Khamis of Bahrain, slipped Holmes into third with a time of 50.07. He joins fellow St. Pete native, bestfriend, and teammateTrayvon Bromell as members of Team USA to make the podium and take home a medal.
No Kaylin Whitney no problem. With the 100m bronze medalist sitting out to focus on the 200m final, the four-some of Teahna Daniels, Arianna Washington, Jada Martin, and Ky Westbrook posted a world junior leading time of 44.03 to win heat one advance to the semi-finals. How low can they go in the next round? Three members of the quartet talked about the race afterwards.
Much like the ladies, the men ran a "B" squad for the prelims of the 4x100m relay. 100m gold medalist Kendal Williams and 200m medal hopeful Trentavis Friday sat this round out. Jalen Miller started out with the lead leg for Team USA and handed off to 100m silver medals and NCAA champion Trayvon Bromell. Bromell seemed to ease up as he approached fellow Floridian Terry Jernigan who handed off to Wells neck and neck with the Japanese. Wells was unable to fight him off as the boys in red, white, and blue, finished second in heat two with a time of 39.43, the second fastest time of the night. Japan's 39.23 was a world junior leading time. See what the group has in store for the next rounds.
The morning session of day four at the World Junior Championships saw two Florida athletes competing, but not for Team USA.
Northeast (Oakland Park) graduate and LSU signee Daeshon Gordon kicked off Friday by advancing to the semi-finals in the 100m hurdles. Gordon was fourth in heat four, but her 13.76 was good enough to qualify for the next round.
One of the best distance runners Florida has seen, c/o 2013 star and current University of Florida freshman Andres Arroyo saw his season come to a close after finishing fourth in heat one with a time of 1:51.63.
More Coverage
- 2014 IAAF World Junior Championships Meet Page (Results/Complete Coverage)