(Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada) -- The USA finished off Day 7 in style with a gold medal in the hammer throw from Conor McCullough. The California native, who finished his first year at Princeton University, threw a championship record toss of 80.79m on his second throw of the day to win gold ahead of Akos Hudi of Hungary.
"The atmosphere was great, " said McCullough. "I was rested up and it all seemed to come together. Feeling the ring was the main part. because the practise rings and the rings in the stadiums aren't always the same, but it came together well."
McCullough's father apparently had a mishap a few days ago that required him to fly home emergency surgery.
"He's doing well," said McCullough. "He had some surgery after he fell down some steps. He had to fly home for it but it went well. The whole team was helping out. I didn't have to worry about it too much."
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McCullough celebrating his victory in the hammer throw (Source: Tnfnorth.ca)
In an epic 800m battle, Casimir Loxsom of Penn State University went through the 800m in second place in 52.19 with Robbie Andrews of the University of Virginia close behind. After making a strong move down the back stretch to take the lead, Loxsom entered the final straightaway with Andrews closing hard on his shoulder. Ultimately neither American could hold off David Mutinda Mutua of Kenya who won the gold out of lane three in a time of 1:46.41
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Neither Andrews nor Loxsom could hold off a late charge by the Kenyan Mutua (Image: Tnfnorth.ca)
"I had the same game plan as yesterday," said Loxsom. "I thought I had it. He snuck up on me. It was a tough prelim yesterday so maybe I opened it up too much. I'm happy with silver. I'm happy with two medallists. It's definitely a cool experience to be able to run around the track with another American."
The women's 4x400m relay held off a strong Nigerian team to capture gold with nearly idential splits from each of its four members: Diamond Dixon (52.8), Stacey-Ann Smith (52.6), Laura Roesler (52.9), and Regina George (52.6) for a world junior leading time of 3:31.20. Jamaica was third.
The men's 4x400m relay team took an early lead and beat Nigeria by a more comfortable margin with a late charge from Great Britain putting them in 3rd. Each of the members split within one second of each other led by Joshua Mance (46.28), Errol Nolan (45.51), David Verburg (46.68) and anchored by Michael Berry (46.30). Their final time of 3:04.76 is a world junior leading mark for 2010.
(Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada) -- The USA finished off Day 7 in style with a gold medal in the hammer throw from Conor McCullough. The California native, who finished his first year at Princeton University, threw a championship record toss of 80.79m on his second throw of the day to win gold ahead of Akos Hudi of Hungary.
"The atmosphere was great, " said McCullough. "I was rested up and it all seemed to come together. Feeling the ring was the main part. because the practise rings and the rings in the stadiums aren't always the same, but it came together well."