12th IAAF World Junior Championships: USA Day One Highlights

Marcus Boyd of USA in action during the Men's 400m heats

Brian Bishop of USA in action during the Discus Throw qualifications

Jeneba Tarmoh of USA in the Semi-Final of the Women's 100m

American junior champion Terrell Wilks was the quickest to advance to Wednesday’s 100m final, but there was heartbreak for his compatriot, Antonio Sales, who was disqualified for causing the second false start in his semi-final.

Wilks was timed at 10.37 into a headwind, whereas the winner of the second semi, South Africa’s Wilhelm van der Vyver ran 10.38 with a much kinder wind gauge reading.

Wilks was far from impressed though. He admitted afterwards: “I am not happy at all with my semi-final race. I had a bad start, but I got into the final – that’s what really counts. I am still expecting to win.”

Jamaica’s Yohan Blake won the third semi with 10.42 to set up what could be a close final.

American Jeneba Tarmoh goes into the women’s 100m final as favourite, backing up her 11.21 from earlier this year by becoming the quickest in the semi-finals.

She won the third heat with 11.38 into a wind of 0.5m/s. However, Britain’s World Youth bronze medallist Ashlee Nelson suggested she could challenge with her semi-final win in 11.43 (-0.7m/s). Bahamas’ Sheniqua Ferguson took the other semi in 11.56 with a neutral wind reading.

New apparel line for Team USA designed for speed!

One of the most joyful moments of the 2008 Olympic Trials has been the public unveiling of the new Nike USA Track and Field uniforms last Monday, June 30, to be worn by all Team USA members in Beijing. The unveiling took the form of the 23 Nike athletes who had qualified for the team to date doing a flag-waving victory lap before 20,000 fans gathered at Hayward Field for that evening’s events.

And with that teddy bear of a shot putter, Reese Hoffa, leading the charge, the event couldn’t help but be a lot of fun.

“We debuted The Swoosh at the 1972 Olympic Trials,” noted Nike Media Relations Manager Jacie Prieto. “But traditionally the Nike way is a larger-than-life debut or unveiling. We wanted something organic for this, though, for the track and field fans, and we thought this was perfect.”

The full "We The People" graphic
The Nike uniforms were on display most of last week for select media members to preview. The Nike Swift System of Dress is designed to be lightweight and give athletes plenty of choices.

Featuring the Nike Swift materials the company has just introduced, the uniforms are intended to reduce weight to achieve less drag and lead to faster times. Prieto said the uniform has seven percent less drag than the Athens version, and that wearing the new Nike Swift Suit translates to a benefit of about two-hundredths of a second in the 100 meters.

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