Pune, India - Shot putter Julie Labonté, Ste-Justine, Que., won Canada’s first ever gold in athletics at the Commonwealth Youth Games with a 15.02m performance at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports City in Pune, India.
Labonté won the event on her third attempt as no other competitor was able to break the 15-metre mark. Lamataimi Lolo of Australia finished in second with a 14.73m attempt.
“This is my first international medal and I couldn’t be happier,” said the 18-year old Cegep student. “It was a solid field of athletes who I have competed against at previous world championships, so I am very proud to be the champion.”
In other athletics action:
Women’s 1500m _ Canadian flag bearer Jessica Parry, London, Ont., set a personal best time of 4 minutes 20 and 59 tenths of a second en route to a silver medal. She finished 45-tenths of a second behind gold medalist Stacy Ndiwa of Kenya.
“I have been battling a bit of the traveler’s flu this week, but anytime that you can set a personal best, you have to be happy,” said Parry; A day after setting a personal best time of 4 minutes 25 and 46 one tenths of a second, Genviève Lalonde, Moncton, ran 4 minutes 26 and 38 tenths of a second en route to a sixth place finish.
Women’s 4x100m relay _ Canada’s team (Olivia Charnuski, Elmira, Ont., Loudia Laarman, Lethbridge, Alta., Alyssa Johnson, Winnipeg, Man., Karlene Hurrel-Jemmott, Edmonton) won the bronze in a time of 41.31 seconds. Australia captured the silver finishing in 41.08.
Men’s 4x100m relay _ Canada (Simon Léveillé, Terrebonne, Que., Phillip Hayle, Brampton, Ont., Segun Makinde, Ottawa, Andre Hamilton, Toronto) edged out South Africa in a photo finish to win the bronze medal. Canada finished in a time of 41.31 seconds .01 seconds ahead of South Africa.
Women’s high jump _ Holly Parent, Victoria, B.C., tied for third, but finishied third on a countback with a jump of 1.71m.
Women’s 200m _ Karlene Hurrel-Jemmott, Edmonton, advanced to Thursday’s semi-final with a 25.35 second performance.
Women’s 400m _ Alyssa Johnson, Winnipeg, Man., finished fourth in the final with a time of 55.20.
Men’s 110m hurdles _ Evan Clark failed to qualify for the next round finishing his qualification heat in a time of 14.53 seconds.
Men’s 200m _ Segun Makinde, Ottawa, advanced to the semi-final with a 22.30 second performance in his qualification heat