Athletics: Sixth World Youth Championships-Ernesta out of 100m after poor start |09 July 2009

Running in lane number eight of heat nine, Ernesta stopped the clock at 11.53 seconds, way off his personal best of 11.12 seconds. He finished last of eight runners – 79 hundredths of a second slower than heat winner Kemar Bailey-Cole of Jamaica with 10.74 seconds.

The first three finishers in each of the 10 heats, plus the four fastest times outside the top three, qualified for the semifinals.

The fastest qualifier was Canadian Aaron Brown with 10.56 seconds, while Ali Omar Abdulla Al Doseri of Bahrain was the slowest with 11.54 seconds after finishing third in his heat.

A total of 93 sprinters took part in the 12 heats and three were disqualified.

Ernesta, who competed in the fifth championship in Ostrava in 2007, clocking 11.43 seconds in the blue-riband race, booked his ticket for the worlds with a performance of 11.12 seconds during the Athletics Cup competition on Saturday April 4, 2009 at the Stad Popiler.

Ranked 68th overall as he was slow off the blocks and recorded the worst react time of 0.368 seconds, Ernesta now has to focus on tomorrow’s 200m heats for a place in Saturday’s semifinals. The final is on the last day – Sunday June 12.

Meanwhile, female high jump record holder Lissa Labiche was expected in action in the qualifiers last night for a place in tomorrow’s final.
The two athletes are accompanied by coach Eugène Ernesta.

G. G.