Four titles are claimed on the first day of IAAF World Youth Championships action in Cali as GB’s Rechmial Miller blasts to 100m bronze

Japan’s Abdul Hakim Sani Brown got the IAAF World Youth Championships off to a record-breaking start on Wednesday as the 16-year-old ran 10.28 to break the 100m championship record on his way to claiming gold in Cali, Colombia.

Just half an hour after the championships had begun and Sani Brown had made his intentions clear, bettering the previous championship record by 0.01 with 10.30 in the first heat. He went on to equal that time into a -1.2m/s headwind in his semi final before running 10.28 (-0.4m/s) to secure the title in style.

Behind him, Brazil’s Derick Silva claimed his nation’s first medal in this event after clocking 10.49, with Britain’s Rechmial Miller and his team-mate Oliver Bromby separated by just 0.01 as Miller bagged the bronze in 10.59. The 17-year-old had improved his PB in both the heat and semi final, running his quickest of 10.45 in the second round.

“It is great to get this medal,” said Miller. “I came into the competition ranked ninth overall so it is a bit of a surprise but I’m so happy to come away with a medal.

“I was running well I have timed my season right,” he added. “I was very confident and thought I could come away with a medal.

“The PB in the heats set up the day well. The final wasn’t the perfect race but I’ve got the bronze and I’m really pleased. Oli ran really well too and we’ve done a great job today.”

Earlier on and the first gold medal of the championships had been claimed by USA’s Adrian Piperi as he threw a world youth-leading 22.00m in the second round of the shot put, a mark – a PB by almost a metre – that he matched in the final round. Poland’s Szymon Mazur of Poland and Sweden’s Wictor Petersson also threw PBs of 21.77m and 21.56m respectively to secure the minor medals.

Alexandra Emilianov claimed a first gold medal for Moldova in the history of the World Youths as she threw 52.78m to better her discus PB by more than a metre and a half and deny Montenegro’s pre-event favourite Kristina Rakocevic whose 51.41m secured her silver. Australia’s Samantha Peace claimed bronze with a 50.59m PB.

Shuru Bulo secured the 3000m title in a sprint finish, the Ethiopian clocking a world youth lead and PB of 9:01.12 ahead of Kenya’s long-time leader Emily Chebet Kipchumba with 9:02.92 and her fellow Kenyan Sheila Chelangat with 9:04.54. World junior cross-country champion Letesenbet Gidey had led an Ethiopian clean sweep of the medals on the mud in Guiyang in March, but she just missed the podium on this ocassion as she ran a 9:04.64 PB for fourth.

France’s Ludovic Besson set PBs in four of the five events and leads the decathlon with 4106 points at the half-way stage of this inaugural event at the World Youths ahead of American George Patrick’s 4077.

Among those to progress in their respective events on the first day of action were USA’s world youth 400m hurdles leader Sydney McLaughlin, Cuba’s Cristian Atanay Napoles in the triple jump and Canada’s Kyra Constantine in the 400m as well as British athletes Ben Greenwood, the team captain, in the 800m, James Gormley in the 1500m, Ada’ora Chigbo in the high jump, Emma Hamplett in the javelin and Hannah Williams and Catherine Reid in the 400m. Williams, the sister of 2009 double world youth champion Jodie, ran 53.93 – a PB by almost half a second. Alicia Barrett and Hope Sarti both secured their spots in the 100m hurdles semi finals, Barrett winning her heat in a UK youth record of 13.46.

Full results from the first day of the IAAF World Youth Championships can be found at iaaf.org. The action resumes on Thursday with the decathlon 110m hurdles at 9.30am local time, 3.30pm in the UK

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