Nia Wedderburn-Goodison and Teddy Wilson both booked their places in the finals of the 100m on the opening day of the 2024 World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Lima.

Team captain Wedderburn-Goodison (coach: Ryan Freckleton, club: Harrow) clocked 11.39 seconds to qualify joint-fastest for Wednesday’s final before Wilson (Marvin Rowe, Shaftesbury Barnet) posted a time of 10.35 seconds in his heat to go through fifth-fastest.

Wedderburn-Goodison narrowly missed out on a place in the final at Cali 2022 but ensured she went on stage further with an assured pair of performances in Peru, improving on her time of 11.47 from the morning’s heats.

“I can’t wait for tomorrow, I am just so glad to make the final this time compared to two years ago,” said Wedderburn-Goodison.

“Tomorrow I just have to give it my all. One race, that’s it. I have been waiting for this all season. I have had a picture of this stadium saved on my laptop home screen so I have seen it every day. Now being here and running here, it’s really good.”

Wilson showed his strong form early on, running a season’s best time of 10.29 in his heat before sealing his place in the final with second place in his semi-final.

“It feels good even though the race wasn’t a clean race,” he said after his semi-final. “It’s nothing I can’t fix overnight.

“I will go back, call the coach, see what I need to change and then just see what needs to be done. Hopefully I can do enough in the final to bring back a medal.

“I am in good form, training up until this point was really good. I just need to trust my training, make sure that I come back for the final with a winning mentality.”

Team-mate Mabel Akande (Denise Timmis, Lincoln Wellington) narrowly missed out on a place in the 100m final by 0.01s, with her time of 11.59 just edging her out despite being the eighth-fastest time overall.

“Being so close to the final, it has been a journey and it has been an experience and I am going to take it back home and work on it,” she said.

“The stadium has been great, the crowd has been amazing and the weather reminds me of home so hopefully used that to my advantage.”

Eden Robinson (Christian North, North Devon) sits in fifth-place in the heptathlon after the first four events.

Robinson opened her campaign in blistering fashion with a personal best of 14.03 in the 100m hurdles and followed that up with 1.60m in the high jump.

She then finished the day with 12.55m in the shot put and a time of 24.82 in the 200m to remain well in contention heading into the second and final day.

“I’m feeling excited for tomorrow,” she said. “It’s a championships, anything can happen. I’ve had a few ups and downs today.

“Heptathlon comes with a lot of emotions but I find it easier to switch off in between events and come back fresh for the next event.”

In the first final of the championships, Lizzie Wellsted (Colchester) finished 12th in the women’s 5000m in a time of 16:21.50.

Wellsted lead the main pack of runners after a small group broke away early on and was pleased with the way she attacked the race.

“It’s not a PB but I took the risk, took it out the front in my group and went a bit hard in the beginning and you pay the price near the end getting overtaken,” she said.
“To be honest, yesterday I was considering not even doing the race after a 17-hour travel, but I am glad I did it.

“Considering I have had four weeks of no sessions, I think it is brilliant I went out there, represented GB. I am super grateful for the opportunity. Last race of the season but I am definitely hungry for more.”

In the morning session, Henry Jonas (Tim Ash, City of Norwich) and William Rabjohns (Mark Pauley, Poole) both booked their places in the 800m semi-finals with assured performances in their heats.
Jonas led from the front in the first heat of the day to take the line in a time of 1:49.89 before Rabjohns followed with second in his heat in 1:51.20.

“I feel great, really strong actually,” said Rabjohns. “The Ethiopian was very quick there but top three is fine.

“I was looking at the big screen just to see how I was getting on and I could see there was a little gap so could ease down. It was a really nice race to run in.

“For the heat I wasn’t too nervous but I feel like for the semi I might be a bit more nervous.”