Jonathas Qualifies for IAAF World Championships
DES MOINES, Iowa — University of South Carolina track and field junior Wadeline Jonathas had another historic performance on Saturday, qualifying for the IAAF World Championships in the 400m with a third place finish at the 2019 USATF Outdoor Championships. Jonathas posted a personal-best 50.44 to qualify for the World Championships that will be held in Doha, Qatar later this year.
The 2019 season, which now will extend to September for Jonathas, will go down as one of the finest in program history. She earned two NCAA championships in her first season with Carolina, one with the 4x400m relay team at the NCAA Indoor Championships, and the other just last month in Austin, Texas at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Jonathas will be the first individual female to compete at the World Championship for the Gamecocks since Natasha Hastings did in 2015, also in the 400m.
Jonathas is just one of six 2019 collegiate athletes that has qualified for the 2019 IAAF World Championships, as of Saturday, with the final day of the USATF Outdoor Championships set for Sunday. She is the first SEC, male or female, to earn a spot on this year’s Team USA World Championship squad.
Jonathas set herself up with a great starting position in lane five after cruising through her first two rounds of the USATF Outdoor Championships. Improving on her NCAA Championship time she set earlier this season, Jonathas dropped down 16-hundreths of a second to secure the spot on Team USA.
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In France, Yann Radrianasolo easily qualified for the 2019 Elite French Championship long jump finals with a leap of 7.80 (25-7) on Saturday morning. Radrianasolo was well off his career best jump of 8.12 (26-7 3/4) he jumped earlier in 2019. He’ll look to reach the world standard mark of 8.17m (26-9 3/4) tomorrow in the finals.
After three false starts in the first heat of the 110m hurdles, along with a weather delay earlier in the day, Isaiah Moore was finally able to step on to the track for the first time since he concluded his collegiate career just a few weeks ago. Moore faced a strong headwind, and snuck into tomorrow’s semifinals with a 14.05 (-2.0). The action for Moore was his first since he finished third at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships with his best wind-legal time of 13.37.
FROM THE COACH
“This achievement is just awesome for Wadeline, period,” head coach Curtis Frye said after the meet. “We now have two athletes that will be going to Doha later this year for the World Championships with Wadeline and Aliyah [Abrams] and we could not be more thrilled for them. These are great girls who have followed great training programs. Coach Karim has done such a good job to keep Wadeline focused. It isn’t easy to roll through a collegiate season and then come here to this atmosphere, not everyone says you can do that and still perform at the highest level. Our plan worked and it was a real team effort to get our athletes ready for this big stage.”
UP NEXT FOR THE GAMECOCKS
The USATF Outdoor Championships concludes Sunday with just Isaiah Moore left to compete in Des Moines. Yann Randrianasolo will continue his Elite French Championships on Sunday morning in the long jump finals while Ireland native Eric Favors will begin his national championship run in Dublin on Sunday morning in the shot put.
| SATURDAY, JULY 27, 2019 • 2019 USATF OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS • WOMEN’S RESULTS | ||
| 400m final | ||
| 3. Wadeline Jonathas | 50.44 – World Championship Qualifier | |
| SATURDAY, JULY 27, 2019 • 2019 USATF OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS • MEN’S RESULTS | ||
| 110m first round Top 4 each heat + next 4 fastest to 2 semis | ||
| 16. Isaiah Moore | 14.05Q (-2.0) | |
| SATURDAY, JULY 27, 2019 • 2019 ELITE FRENCH CHAMPIONSHIPS • MEN’S RESULTS | ||
| Long Jump semifinals Top 12 to finals | ||
| 1. Yann Randrianasolo | 7.80m | 25-7 | |
