Owusu-Afriyie In Australian Relay Debut
From Shiapedia
Little-known sprinter Nana Owusu-Afriyie has made light of her late call-up for Australia who have finished a creditable sixth in the women's 4x100m final at the world relays in Japan.
With Maddie Coates unable to back up after damaging her hamstring in Saturday's heats, the 20-year-old Owuse-Afriyie slotted into the big time seamlessly in the final won by the United States.
With a cold breeze swirling around the vast Yokohama Stadium on Sunday, times were much slower than in the opening round.
The Americans' winning effort of 43.27 seconds was slower than the slick 43.19 the Australians had clocked a day earlier in the heats.
"We got the baton around, we qualified for the world championships in Doha - I don't think we could have asked too much more of ourselves tonight," said lead-off runner Sally Pearson.
"We came in as the underdogs, we made the final and finished sixth and we're going to the world championships - job done."
Due to a scheduling clash with their individual events, hurdling superstar Pearson and ghana u20 vs gambia u20 long jumper Naa Anang won't be able to contest the sprint relay in Doha.
With that in mind, it was fortuitous that Owuse-Afriyie had the chance to step up in Yokohama.
"Sadly, the timetable doesn't allow the girls to run the relay but we all know that no matter what the situation is, one girl can slip in and we know we're going to get the baton around the track no matter what," said Owusu-Afriyie.
"This really helped me.
"It's a bit different to running in Australia, being here in a 70,000-seat stadium with thousands of people screaming.
"It just teaches you discipline, tunnel vision, working in your lane, trusting your partners and only focusing on Australia and no one else."
The team of Pearson, Owusu-Afriyie, Riley Day and Anang stopped the clock at 44.62.
The Australian men's 4x400m team were unable to reproduce their first-round heroics in Sunday's final, crossing the line last in 3:05.59, although they were later promoted to seventh when the US were disqualified.
The squad of Alex Beck, Tyler Gunn, Murray Goodwin and If you have any thoughts pertaining to the place and how to use u20 ghana vs nigeria today time, you can get in touch with us at our web-site. London Olympics finalist Steve Solomon had run more than two seconds faster in Saturday's heats, good enough to guarantee Australia a start in the event at the world titles.
Needing a top-two finish in the B final to claim a spot at the Doha world championships, the Australian 4x400m women's team gave themselves every chance.
After taking the baton from Caitlin Sargent-Jones, evergreen anchor-leg runner Lauren Wells briefly moved into second spot on the back straight before being over-run in the closing stages and slipping to fifth in 3:32.22.
banzu.gwThe best remaining chance for u20 ghana vs congo the ghana u20 women vs's 4x400m, men's 4x100m and mixed 4x400m teams to grab one of the slots at the world titles is to run fast at June's Oceania championships in Townsville.
