Junior athletes happy with medal

Press, 22 July 1986, Page 46

Junior athletes happy with medal

NZPA staff correspondent Athens

The New Zealand junior athletics team leaves Athens today with the team manager, Don Willoughby, satisfied with its performance at the first world championships and confident good ground work has been laid for the future. The five-day championships at the Olympic Stadium were open to men aged up to 19 and women up to 18 and attracted 1400 athletes from 148 countries. New Zealand’s 11strong team gained one medal, two national records, reached four finals and two semifinals and achieved four personal best performances. “That was not bad. It was a very successful trip,” Mr Willoughby said. “Combined with the meets we did in Swansea last month and here two weeks ago It has been a tremendous learning experience for the team. They have all gained so much.”

Some of the team members, notably Tracy Phillips in the high Jump and Jonathon Moyle in the long jump, did not perform as well as had been expected but the manager would not criticise them.

“Let’s Just say that one or two found out what the intense pressure of a meeting like this is all about But they will be better for it” Mr Willoughby said. “What people have to remember is that all the team was competing against the best in the world and the results we achieved were very encouraging for the future of New Zealand athletics.” New Zealand’s sole medal was a bronze to Gavin Lovegrove in the javelin. Lovegrove set a new junior world record of 76.88 m in the Athens warm-up meeting early in the month but was eclipsed in the final by the Soviet Union’s Vladimir Sasomovic who established a new mark of 78.84 m. England’s Mark Roberson edged Lovegrove out of the silver medal by 2cm. A new national Junior 3000 m record was set by Sonia Barry, who finished eighth in the final in 9:19.61. Tracy Kennedy was eleventh in 9:21.94, 16s better than her best before leaving New Zealand. The men’s 400 m relay team of Grant Gilbert, Craig Purdy, Moyle and - Scott Bowden set a new New Zealand record of 3:11.7 although they failed to get past the first round and Gilbert set a personal best of 21.51 s in qualifying for the 200 m semi-final. Andrea Stuart impressed by reaching the 800 m semi-final and then tackling the -1500 m, where, she reached the filial in the fourth fastest heat 'time of 4:25.3. The

effort proved too much

and she was more than a second slower in the

final, where she finished eleventh.