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Pape bags 800m gold
Madeleine Pape has won Australia's second gold medal of the World University Games with a dominating performance in the women's 800m.
Pape took the lead after 300m and maintained a slight lead at the bell, then flew down the back straight to open up a five-metre gap on a field that included 1.59.36 performer Irina Maracheva from Russia.
Pape crossed the line in 2.01.91 to win her first international title and was rapt with the result.
"It means a lot, this competition is big for athletics," said a beaming Pape.
"My coach Eric Hollingsworth told me exactly what to do and I had full confidence in what he told me so I just did that and it worked."
Pape was particularly pleased with her fitness.
"To back up three days in a row, that's a pretty good time."
Olga Cristea from Moldova took second in 2:03.49s, whilst Maracheva finished last in 2.05.15s.
Tristan Thomas and Brendan Cole each cruised through to the final of the men's 400m hurdles with the focus no longer on each other - now it's all about winning.
In the first semi-final Thomas set his race up well and shut down before the line to win in 50.11.
"Much better. I needed to actually attack the race and win my semi to get a better lane for the final," he said.
Cole was just as smooth in his semi-final to place second in 50.59. Belgium's Michael Bultheel (50.46s) caught him on the line, but Cole had done enough.
"It was fine. I wasn't quite sure whether to have a crack tonight. I am happy with that," said Cole, who came fifth in the 400m hurdles at the Commonwealth Games in 2006.
Cole is aiming to post an A-qualifier (49.25) and join Thomas on the Australian team for the world championships in Berlin.
"I really want to run fast tomorrow night."
The major threats appear to be Japan's Kazuaki Yoshida, who is the fastest in the field with his 48.08s last year, and Jussi Heikkilä from Finland (49.39 in 2008).
Nineteen-year-old Ryan Gregson was mixing it with much older athletes in the final of the men's 1500m but got out extremely fast to lead at the 200m mark.
He was back mid-pack on lap two as the field ran around him but held his composure and seized an opportunity with 100m to go, running strongly to the line to finish fourth and miss the bronze medal by just 0.22s.
"I was so close. When I finally got into my rhythm I was catching them," said Gregson, the Australian junior record-holder for the event.
A freak accident prevented Chris Troode from taking his place in the final of the men's 400m. After winning his semi-final in a season's best 45.79, Troode injured his shoulder during the warm-down. While initially the prognosis was good, he woke in the morning with pain and no movement and was out of the final.
"He popped his shoulder and couldn't run," said Athletics Australia High Performance Manager Eric Hollingsworth.
Canberra's Lauren Boden came fifth in the women's 400m hurdles, running 56.81.
"I was trying a new stride pattern and only got half of it right," said the versatile Boden, who was sixth in the long jump at this event two years ago.
Alwyn Jones (16.53 +0.0) and Henry Frayne (16.11 +0.7) were ninth and twelfth respectively in the final of the men's triple jump.
Portugal's Olympic and world champion Nelson Evora found an unexpected challenge from Cuban Dairon Fuente who led the competition until the fifth round with 17.13 (+0.0). But there would be no denying the Portugese champ another crown in his impressive collection as he jumped 17.14 (-0.7) on his penultimate attempt to hit the lead and then extend to 17.22m (-0.7 ) on the last jump of the competition.
Liam Zamel-Paez was over 2.20m on his third attempt in the men's high jump and was one of six athletes battling for the medals when the bar was raised to 2.23m. The Queenslander was unable to negotiate that height and finished equal fifth.
In the final of the women's javelin Laura Cornford threw 55.98m twice, in rounds one and four, to finish seventh. Cornford recorded her third-best throw of all time in the qualifying round with 56.38m.
The final was dominated by Sunette Viljoen from South Africa who threw herself into world championships contention with a massive three-metre personal best in qualifying with 65.43m, a new African record. She couldn't match that in the final but her throw of 62.52m was good enough for the gold medal.
Other day three results:
In the men's 20km walk Thomas Barnes placed nineteenth with a 1:28:11, Ian Rayson was 21st with 1:30:59 and Adam Rutter did not start.
Joel Pocklington and Blake Lucas are through to the final of the men’s pole vault.
The women’s 200m heats saw Canberra’s Melissa Breen (24.14s) qualifying for the semi-finals where she will face race favourite Monique Williams (NZL), who ran 23.55s.
Sean Wroe was first in his heat of the men's 200m in 21.43s (-0.7), then backed up six hours later and qualified for the semi-finals by running 21.20s (+0.8) in the second round.
An omission from yesterday's results was Sean Wroe’s eighth place in the men’s 100m semi-final (10.59s).
For all results from day three click here
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