Elizabeth Ndudi, the 19-year-old athlete from Dublin, managed to progress to the final round of the long jump event in the World Under-20 Athletics Championships held in Lima, Peru, despite not performing at her best during Tuesday’s initial session. Ndudi, who previously enhanced the Irish senior record to 6.68m during an event in Illinois in April, entered the Peru event ranked third among the competitors. She was also looking forward to emulating her gold-winning feat from last summer’s European Under-20 Championships in Jerusalem. Due to chilly morning weather, she managed a jump of just 5.95m, making her the last of the final-round qualifiers. On Wednesday evening, she will compete against Spain’s Laura Martinez, among others, who secured the best jump of 6.37m among the qualifiers. If Ndudi manages to reach close to her personal Irish record, she could potentially secure a medal.
Sean Aigboboh of Tallaght AC also advanced in the 100m heats, recording a solid time of 10.55 seconds and securing third place in his heat. Aigboboh was the last of the non-automatic qualifiers advancing from the first round. Notably, the 18-year-old Sean Aigboboh shares a training regime with Israel Olatunde.
Unfortunately, it was a disappointing outcome for the Irish 4x400m mixed team consisting of Conor Kelly, Daisy Walker, Sean Doggett, and Niamh Murray. They placed fourth in their heat with a time of 3:26.40, a race that Germany won with a time of 3:24.10.