Francis advances to 1000 final
New Yorker Claudia Francis advanced to the final of the girls’ 1,000-meter run Wednesday at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. Francis, who will be a senior this fall at Benjamin Cardozo High School in Queens, had the fifth-fastest time in the preliminaries, running 2:51.99, just off her indoor best for the distance. The fastest qualifier was Anastasia Tkachuk of Ukraine, who ran 2:43.55.
In the girls’ 200, Olivia Ekpone of Maryland won her heat in 24.05 and advanced to the final. Ekpone, a senior-to-be at Northwestern H.S. in Germantown, has a windy PR of 23.64.
“I was actually quite impressed with my time,” Ekpone said. “I felt great during warmup… I felt absolutely ready. I was mentally focused. I knew I was ready for this race. I’ve been preparing and everything finally came together today. I was hoping to go under 24, but I’ll take it.”
The fastest time in the preliminaries was run by Nkiruka Florence Nwakwe of Nigeria, who ran 23.98. Ekpone also has Nigerian parentage.
- Jack Pfeifer