WILSON AND GRIMSEY TAKE TOP SIX PLACES IN NAPLES

Two British athletes were in finals action on day three of the World University Games, while three athletes progressed to the next stage of their events.

In a final lap burn-up, several athletes were in contention for the men’s 1500m title, including Britain’s Michael Wilson (Bud Baldaro; Sunderland), and despite a frantic sprint for the line, he finished in fifth position. Moving his way to the third lane coming off the final bend, he tried his best to find the opening, but Michal Rozmys of Poland won in 3:53.67, with the Briton crossing the line in 3:54.50.

Over in the high jump, William Grimsey (Carol Jackson; Woodford Green Essex Ladies) was joint-sixth in the final standings after clearing 2.18 metres. He cleared 2.15m on his second attempt but three fouls at the next height brought his Games’ to an end. Bulgaria’s Timohir Ivanov won with a best of 2.30m.

Jess Judd (Mick Judd; Blackburn) comfortably came through her 5000m heat in 16:27.46, progressing as one of the five automatic qualifiers per heat. In the quicker of the two heats, Judd was fifth and will go in the final on Friday evening.

After coming into day two on 3586 points in eighth, Harry Maslen’s (Sam Stanislaus; Ilkley) competition effectively ended after not making a height in the pole vault. A time of 15.39 (-1.8) in the 110m hurdles and 37.18m in the discus had left him on 4996 points in seventh. However, his failure to clear a height in the eighth event of the decathlon brought his event to a close early.

However, he did complete his final two events, throwing 55.17m in the javelin, and posting a time of 4:45.45 over 1500m to end the decathlon on 6307 points for tenth place.

Earlier in the day, Jordan Broome (Ronnie Williams; Sale Harriers Manchester) ran impressively to book his spot in Thursday’s semi-finals of the 200m. Winning his heat in 21.05 (-0.6), he goes to the next stage as the seventh fastest out of the heats.

Jessica Hunter (Scott Grace; Shaftesbury Barnet) made swift progress into the 100m hurdles semi-finals after a second-place finish in her heat. With the first two going through automatically, Hunter’s wind-assisted time of 13.51 (+2.8) saw her progress to the next stage in Napoli.

Medal tally:

Bronze:

Taylor Campbell – Hammer