Olympia's Hana Moll wins world U20 pole vault title...
With the bar at 14-3.25 (4.35m), Moll, assured of a medal after clearing the previous height of 14-1.25 (4.30m), was one of four remaining vaulters attempting the bar after twin sister Amanda missed her attempts to finish fifth.
France's Elise Russis, who was second at this meet last year in Nairobi, had two misses at the previous height and opted to take one shot at the higher bar. She missed.
Russis ended up fourth at 13-9.25 (4.20m), the same mark as Amanda Moll, but ahead of Amanda on fewer misses at that height.
German teammates Chiara Sisterman, who led the competition going into 14-3.25 (4.35m) and Janne Ohrt both missed three times at the height, setting up the dramatic finish for Hana Moll.
Hana cleared the bar to leapfrog past Sisterman for the win and the world title.
Moll, who with sister Amanda, was one of the top seeded vaulters in the event, then took three shots at 14-7.25 (4.45m), which would have tied her outdoor season best, but missed.
Moll's victory meant that the United States swept the women's pole vault in all three of World Athletics' major championships in the same calendar year (Sandi Morris/world indoors; Katie Nageotte/world outdoors; Hana Moll/world U-20).
Courtesy of World Athletics, here is the video highlight of Moll's victory:
In the mixed zone, Moll told the assembled media, "It feels great. It was a good competition, I had a great time against everyone that was there. It was much better weather than the day prior."
"I was building confidence in my vault my very first attempts. I hadn't fully vaulted on my warmup, so those set the bar for me. It didn't play out to how I expected because my sister's not here with me but I couldn't have asked for a better competition. It was really tough and definitely challenged me. I'm really proud of what we've both accomplished this year."
University of Washington rising sophomore Anthony Smith of Türkiye finished eighth in the finals of the men's 200, running 20.87.
One athlete we overlooked in the coverage of the world under-20 championships was Seattle Prep's Will (Tyler) Floyd, who represented Canada at the championships.
Floyd, the triple state 3A champ at the 100, 200 & 400 meters, finished fourth in the 400 meters in a personal best of 46.01.
Emerald Ridge HS rising sophomore JaiCieonna Giro-Holt, one of the youngest in the field, finished 17th in the heptathlon with a final score of 5212 points.
Giro-Holt, who entered the day in eighth place overall, long jumped 17-9.5 (5.42m), then threw the javelin 117-4 (35.76m), and finished the 800 in a time of 2:39.22.
KERR AND TANNER ADVANCE TO SATURDAY'S FINALS IN COMMONWEALTH GAMES 1500...
In Birmingham, England, both Josh Kerr of Scotland and the Seattle based Brooks Beasts, and former Husky Sam Tanner advanced to Saturday's finals in the men's 1500m at the Commonwealth Games at Alexander Stadium Thursday morning.
In the first of two qualifying heats with the top five, plus the two fastest non-qualifiers advancing to the finals, Kerr finished fourth in a time of 3:37.84, while in the second heat, Tanner finished fifth in 3:48.65.
Saturday's final will be contested at 1:10 pm local time (5:10 am in Seattle).
Washington alum Amy-Eloise Markovc of England is entered in the 5000 meters on Sunday.
FULTON, PRAKEL & RYAN ENTERED IN SIR WALTER MILER RACE IN NORTH CAROLINA FRIDAY...
Washington alum Eleanor Fulton, along with Washington State alum Paul Ryan and Husky volunteer coach Sam Prakel, are all entered in Friday night's Sir Walter Miler meet at Cardinal Gibbons HS in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The meet is offering prize money to five places, plus time bonuses.
Media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) will stream the meet beginning at 5:30pm, Pacific time.
NOTE: World Athletics, Sir Walter Miler, and the Commonwealth Games contributed to this report.
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