Washington's Elijah Mason finishes eighth at IAAF World Under-20 Championships...

TAMPERE, Finland—University of Washington redshirt freshman Elijah Mason (left/photos by John Nepolitan) finished eighth in the finals of the men’s discus Sunday afternoon on the final day of competition at the IAAF World Under-20 Track & Field Championships at Ratina Stadium.

Mason threw a best of 190-2 (57.96m) with the lighter 1.75 kilo implement used by under-20 athletes in the second round of competition. That mark was good enough by one centimeter to get into the finals and obtain three more throws.

His only other legal throw on the day came in the sixth and final round where he threw 186-3 (56.77m).

Afterwards, he said “I’m not too upset. (Despite fouling four times) I felt that I was hitting the positions I needed to hit.”

When asked about the issues with the sticky ring in Saturday’s qualifying & today’s final, and whether it affected him, he said, “I had 4 fouls because of that and because I wanted to shoot all of my shots. I was going for a big throw and because I knew that going slow and being conservative wasn’t going to get me that. So the plan was to go all out!”

“Hey! I’m not disappointed. I made it here and that’s already more than 99% of the world can say. I had troubles in the ring but everyone had to throw in the same conditions so it is what it is. This is a blessing of a lifetime that I’ll never forget. Eighth in the world isn’t too bad! I’m taking home an unbelievable blessing and a lifetime memory!”

Kai Chang of Jamaica won the competition with a best throw of 204-7 (62.36m).

Complete results of the IAAF World Under-20 Track & Field Championships are available here.

NOTE:  USA Track & Field contributed to this report.