Italy's Trost and Germany's Rüh make it a golden finale at the World Junior Championships | 16.07.2012
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| Alessia Trost of Italy won the high jump title with a clearance of 1.91m on the final day of the World Junior Championships in Barcelona on Sunday. (FIDAL) |
Trost, the 2009 World Youth Championships gold medallist, had a competition littered with failures but the tall Italian was the only women to go over 1.91m, clearing the decisive height on her second attempt.
"It was not such a good competition for me, I needed three attempts at 1.82m, if I had not gone over 1.91m I would have got the bronze medal rather than the gold," reflected Trost, who is the 2012 world-leader with the 1.92m she cleared earlier in the summer.
"I was running too fast, the surface didn't suit my style of jumping, I had to concentrate and control my speed and when I did that then I did some good jumps. However, I am delighted with getting the gold medal."
Russia's 2011 European Athletics Junior Championships gold medallist Mariya Kuchina had to settle for a bronze on this occasion with 1.88m.
Rüh, the pre-event discus favourite, spent much of the languishing in third place but showed her competitive spirit by producing a winning effort of 62.38m in the final round.
"The circle was very slippery and I took a long time to adapt to the conditions However, I said to myself before the last round, 'you can't go home with just 58 metres,'" said Rüh.
"I was also very nervous before the competition. I felt there was a lot of pressure on me," she added.
Rüh's compatriot and surprise shot put winner, as well as the 2011 European Athletics Junior Championships discus winner, Shanice Craft took the silver medal with 60.42m to become the first woman in World Junior Championships history to win medals in both events.
Silver medals went to Russian triple jumper Artyom Primak with 16.60m and Serbia's Amela Terzic, who ran a superb 1500m to come home second in a national senior record of 4:07.59.
In the very last event of the Championships, Poland also took an unexpected set of men's 4x400m silver medals in a national junior record of 3:05.05.
The women's 100m hurdles final had a strong breeze blowing in the face of the athletes but Switzerland's Noemi Zbaren, second at last year's World Youth Championships and still 18 so eligible for next year's European Athletics Junior Championships, showed few problems adjusting to the conditions and finished second again in 13.42.
Russian junior record holder Yekaterina Bleskina was third in 13.43 and more bronze medals were won by Russia in the women's 4x400m in 3:36.43.
European athletes ended the Championships with an overall tally of 12 gold medals, 21 silvers and 10 bronze medals.
Three Championships records were set by European athletes - British sprinter Adam Gemili ran 100m in 10.05, Swedish pole vaulter Angelica Bengtsson cleared 4.50m and French hammer thrower Alexandra Tavernier reached 70.62m – and there were no less than 42 national junior records broken.
Full results and event reports from the IAAF World Junior Championships can be found here.
