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World Junior Championships: Mills progresses to semis in Barcelona

The 19-year-old finished fourth in her heat to go through as fastest loser this afternoon.

JOANNA MILLS PRODUCED a season best time to advance to the women’s 400m semi-final at the IAAF World Junior Track and Field championships in Barcelona today.

The 19-year-old Ballymena runner, who won her appeal against the decision to omit her from the Olympics 4x400m relay team over the weekend, qualified as the fastest loser after a time of 54.17 saw her finish fourth in Heat 1.

“I knew I’d be doing well to get an automatic qualification spot but I’m pleased with how I executed my race,” she told Will Downing. “It’s such a high standard in comparison to Europe as you come out here and there are so many African and Caribbean teams who have really good athletes. It’s good experience to do it on a junior level.”

The semi-final is scheduled for tomorrow, at 7.35pm Irish time.

Meanwhile, Ben Kiely also ran a personal best to finish fourth and book his place in the semis of the 400m hurdles, while Siofra Cleirigh Buttner was placed sixth in the women’s 800m semi-final, reigning world youth champion Kate Veale came in 18th in the women’s 10,000m walk and Emma Prendiville finished 13 places further back in the same race.

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