Dureti Edao and Anita Hinriksdottir at the 2013 IAAF World Youth Championships (© Getty Images)
Anita Hinriksdottir of Iceland set a championship record of 2:01.13 to take the girls’ 800m title here in Donetsk after a brilliant run in this afternoon’s final, taking her country’s first ever gold medal at a global championships.
Ethiopia’s Dureti Edao ran a personal best of 2:03.25 for silver in a sprint finish with Raevyn Rogers of the USA whose own personal best of 2:03.32 meant bronze for the US champion.
Rogers may have paid for her early race efforts having taken the lead from the break, going through 200m in 27.91 with Edao and Georgia Wassall of Australia on her heels.
Hinriksdottir ran on the outside coming off the second bend to make her move to the front, a position that would remain unchallenged until the finish.
At the bell, Hinriksdottir was timed in 58.25 ahead of Rogers, Edao and Wassall in this order and while the Icelandic athlete kept on increasing her lead, there was a fiercer battle for the minor medals.
Hinriksdottir hit the 600m marker in 1:27.91 and with 200 metres to go it looked as though Edao was the best bet for silver. Rogers seemed to have hit the wall and let her Ethiopian rival go past with Wassall a further couple of metres adrift.
Just when it looked like Rogers had run out of gas, the US athlete found another gear and sprinted pasted Edao on the home straight. Unfortunately for Rogers, she did not manage to sustain her sprint right until the finish and Edao out-dipped her on the line.
Wassall faded in the final stages and came in fourth in 2:04.32.
Notably, Hinriksdottir had originally been disqualified after winning her semi-final heat yesterday afternoon but she was soon reinstated by the track referee.
