CALI, Colombia — Gold medals in the women's pole vault and 400m hurdles and a pair of other medals took Team USATF's tally to double figures on day four of the World Athletics U20 Championships at Pascual Guerrero Stadium. The U.S. has 10 medals, five of them gold, and leads the point standings with 107. Seeking the fifth Team USATF gold in the event at the World U20 Championships, Akala Garrett (Charlotte, North Carolina/USATF North Carolina) rocketed to an early lead in the women's 400m hurdles final, putting two strides on the rest of the field going into the second turn. The field started to catch up around the bend, including U.S. teammate Michaela Rose (Suffolk, Virginia/USATF Virginia), but Garrett found a reserve of energy and again went to the lead decisively. Rose clipped the final hurdle and lost some ground, opening the door for Garrett to win in a lifetime best 56.16, with Rose taking bronze, also in a big lifetime best of 56.86. Garrett's time elevated her to No. 6 on the all-time U.S. high school performer list. A dramatic third attempt clearance at 4.35m/14-3.25 gave Hana Moll (Olympia, Washington/USATF Pacific Northwest) the gold in the women's pole vault, the first ever in the event for the United States at the World U20 Championships and only the second medal of any color since the pole vault for women was added to the program in 1998. Competing one day later than anticipated after the women's pole vault final was postponed due to inclement weather yesterday, twin sisters Hana and Amanda Moll (Olympia, Washington/USATF Pacific Northwest) both easily cleared 4.10m/13-5.25. As the bar moved up to 4.20m/13-9.25, Hana went over the first time to keep her card clear, but Amanda needed two attempts. Both women missed their first tries at 4.30m/14-1.25 before Hana made it over second time. Amanda missed her remaining two attempts and went out, missing out on a podium spot in fifth. Coming off the final turn in fourth and with significant real estate to regain if he hoped to medal, Steven McElroy (Pickerington, Ohio/USATF Ohio) maintained his form and kept pushing, moving all the way into second to take silver in 45.65. After a false start disqualification for Jamaica's Delano Kennedy, the field got under way and South Africa's Lythe Pillay had the run of his life to win in 45.28. Garrett Brown (Carlsbad, California/USATF San Diego-Imperial) had misses at 5.05m/16-6.75 and 5.15m/16-10.75 in the men's pole vault, but went clear at 5.25m/17-2.75 on his first attempt. He missed thrice at 5.35m/17-6.5 and ended up fourth. Justin Rogers (Hershey, Pennsylvania/USATF Mid-Atlantic) took two tries to go over 5.15m/16-10.75, but couldn't negotiate the next height and finished in a tie for ninth. With the unenviable task of running the men's 200m final from lane one, Brandon Miller (Fenton, Michigan/USATF Michigan) acquitted himself admirably to take fifth in 20.64. Israel's Blessing Afrifah upset Letsile Tebogo of Botswana for the gold, with both men timed at 19.96 to break the meet record. Afrifah won by .006 seconds. Returning to the field after taking shot put gold earlier in the week, Tarik O'Hagan (Woonsocket, Rhode Island/USATF New England) had a best of 73.05m/239-8 in round three and finished eighth in the men's hammer. Sitting 10th after the first day of the women's heptathlon, JaiCieonna Gero-Holt (Puyallup, Washington/USATF Pacific Northwest) long jumped 5.42m/17-9.5 and threw the javelin 35.76m/117-4 to enter the final event in 12th place in the point standings, seven spots ahead of Bryanna Craig (Ruston, Louisiana/USATF Southern). Craig spanned 5.55m/18-2.5 in the long jump and had a best of 36.12m/118-6 in the javelin. Gero-Holt clocked 2:39.22 in the 800m to tally 5,212 points and place 17th, with Craig 18th after a 2:20.41 took her total to 5,192. Women's 3,000m steeplechasers Karrie Baloga (New Windsor, New York/USATF New York) and Harper McClain (Saint Helena, California/USATF Pacific) finished 11-12, with Baloga clocking 10:34.28 and McClain 10:37.58. In the heats of the women's 4x100m relay, a quartet of Lily Jones (Portland, Oregon/USATF Oregon), Autumn Wilson (Liberty Hill, Texas/USATF Texas Southern), Iyana Gray (Arlington, Texas/USATF Southwestern) and Alyssa Colbert (Gilbert, Arizona/USATF Arizona) pushed the zone on the first exchange to its fullest extent but made the pass safely and from there the lead increased with each leg and culminated in a 43.66 victory. Just as in the women's heats before them, the first exchange in the men's 4x100m relay between Johnny Brackins (Lee's Summit, Missouri/USATF Missouri Valley) and Michael Gizzi (Covington, Georgia/USATF Georgia) was shaky and cost the foursome ground. Gizzi's pass to David Foster (Katy, Texas/USATF Gulf) was smooth, but there was more trouble at the final handoff with mixed 4x400m relay gold medalist Charlie Bartholomew (McKinney, Texas/USATF Southwestern). Bartholomew was able to get back into contention as he neared the finish, crossing the line in third in 39.78. The U.S. moved up to heat winners after the disqualification of Colombia and France. The second-ranked entrant in the women's 100m hurdles with a lifetime best of 13.05, Jalaysiya Smith (Glenn Heights, Texas/USATF Southwestern) started to pull away after the fifth hurdle in heat four, running away from the field to win very easily in 13.42. Eddiyah Frye (Miami Gardens, Florida/USATF Florida) was second in the second heat at 13.57 and also qualified for the next round. A slow first 200m left all seven men in the second heat of the 800m bunched together, and the pack went through the halfway point in 57.47. Miles Brown (Novi, Michigan/USATF Michigan) closed well to nab the third automatic qualifying spot for the semifinal in 1:51.82. Samuel Rodman (Bealeton, Virginia/USATF Virginia) ran near the back of the pack in the final heat as the leaders went by 400m in 56.05. Rodman started to move up, coming past 600m in 1:23.37, and he went wide off the final turn on the way to striding past all but the winner, placing second in 1:50.36. With only three automatic qualifying spots in each of three heats, Addison Wiley (Huntington, Indiana/USATF Indiana) hovered just behind the heat one leader through the first 400m in just over 72 seconds and then moved into the lead. Wiley continued to lead through 800m in 2:25.91, with Kenya's Purity Chepkirui on her shoulder. Wiley was being challenged by Chepkirui and Ethiopia's Mebriht Mekonen as they passed the bell in 3:17.82, and the Ethiopian went to the front off the final bend on her way to a 4:18.97 win. Wiley finished well to claim second in 4:19.39 ahead of defending champion Chepkirui. Pacing heat two through the first 400m in 69.61, Mia Barnett (La Crescenta, California/USATF Southern California) was comfortably in the lead until Ethiopia's Birke Haylom went past her and took the lead through 800m in 2:18.77. Haylom took a sizable lead heading into the final circuit, with Barnett still holding onto second. In the final 150m, Barnett was passed by Finland's Ilona Mononen and placed third in 4:18.51 to advance automatically. Saving his best for last, Evan Niedrowski (Wyomissing, Pennsylvania/USATF Mid-Atlantic) was fifth in Group A of the men's javelin with a 69.42m/227-9 throw in round three and that was enough to earn him a berth in the final as the tenth-best qualifier. Solomon Washington (Round Rock, Texas/USATF Texas Southern) made quick work of the qualifying round in the men's triple jump, bounding a lifetime best 15.85m/52-0 to automatically advance to the final. Floyd Whitaker (Clementon, New Jersey/USATF New Jersey) needed a third-round effort of 15.54m/51-0 to advance to the final in 10th overall. It was always a tall order for the U.S. men to make the final of the 400m hurdles, but Grant Williams (Celina, Texas/USATF Southwestern) was stride for stride with the leaders in semi two into the backstretch before stuttering at hurdle four. He recovered well enough to stay close and pushed hard through the finish to clock a lifetime best 50.82 in fourth. He just missed the final with the ninth-fastest time overall. Kody Blackwood (McKinney, Texas/USATF Southwestern) was in lane one of the final semi and could never completely unwind, finishing fourth in 51.15. High jumper Emma Gates (Turner, Oregon/USATF Oregon) cleared 1.80m/5-10.75 on her third try to earn a berth in the final as one of 12 women who negotiated that height. As expected from two of the top-ranked entrants, both American women made it through the 200m heats unscathed with the two fastest times overall. Jayla Jamison (Gaston, South Carolina/USATF South Carolina) ran well around the bend and had an unassailable lead heading down the stretch, winning the fourth heat in 23.36, while 100m seventh-place finisher Mia Brahe-Pedersen (Lake Oswego, Oregon/USATF Oregon) took heat five in 23.25. Jamison won the final semi in 23.01 after a very strong curve, while Brahe-Pedersen chased Jamaica's Brianna Lyston in the second semi and came away with a lifetime best of 22.95 in second place, also snagging a lane in the final.
A full list of results can be found here. Join the conversation with USATF on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook using the hashtag #JourneyToGold.