Dunn, Hinckson, Solomon advance in World U20 Championships

Guyana made a promising start to its World Under-20 Championships campaign on Wednesday in Oregon, US, with Onesi Dunn, Athaleyha Hinckson, and Olivia Solomon advancing from their respective opening-round events.
Dunn secured his place in the men’s 100 metres semi-finals after clocking 10.38 seconds to finish second in heat three. He crossed the line just one-hundredth of a second behind Brazil’s Michael Cruz, who won in 10.37s.
Botswana’s Wahza Matakule finished third in 10.39s to claim the final automatic qualifying position from the heat.
Guyana’s other representative in the men’s 100m, Gordon Thompson, did not progress after finishing eighth in heat two with a time of 10.77s.
Great Britain’s Jake Odey-Jordan won that heat in 10.38s, while Nigeria’s Tejiri Godwin and Slovakia’s Richard Machata both recorded 10.39s to advance in second and third, respectively.
Hinckson also booked a spot in the women’s 100m semi-finals after producing a comfortable 11.31-second performance in heat two.
She finished just behind St Lucia’s Jady Emmanuel, who recorded a personal best of 11.28s to win the race. Australia’s Maya Taber claimed the third automatic qualifying position in 11.39s.
Meanwhile, Solomon delivered a national record-breaking performance in the opening round of the women’s 800m.
The Guyanese athlete clocked a new national under-20 record of two minutes, 6.55 seconds to finish sixth in heat three. Despite missing an automatic qualifying position, Solomon advanced to the semi-finals as one of the next-fastest competitors.
Greece’s Ioulianna Roussou won the heat in 2:04.47s, followed by Australia’s Ivy Boothroyd and the United States’ Paige Sheppard.
Hinckson and Dunn were scheduled to contest their respective 100m semi-finals later on Wednesday night, with the results to be published in a subsequent report.