Guernsey Press

Lorraine Ugen and Jazmin Sawyers into World Championships final

The British duo reached Sunday’s battle for the long jump medals in Eugene.

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Lorraine Ugen and Jazmin Sawyers reached the final of the long jump at the World Championships.

The British pair both posted 6.68m to finish in the top 12 of qualifying, despite not hitting the automatic mark of 6.75m.

Sawyers, who came eighth at last year’s Olympics in Tokyo, recorded a season’s best with Ugen finishing fifth in Group A on Saturday morning in Eugene.

They will now compete in Sunday’s final, the last day of competition in America.

Sawyers said: “I’m happy – the job in qualifying is to make it to the final. There’s definitely some technical things I can do better, but that’s my first world final at my third try so I’m really happy.

“I don’t know why I can’t do it in round one and just get the auto-Q but you know what? I just said before, people pay for tickets, I’ve got to give them a full three rounds of entertainment, I did it for them.”

Cindy Sember qualified for the Sunday’s 100m hurdles semi-final after running 12.67 seconds in her heat.

The 27-year-old came second behind the USA’s Kendra Harrison, who won Olympic silver last year.

She said: “I was able to get through and that was ultimately my main goal, so I’m quite happy. I just really wanted to execute a clean race but I know I was still a little bit rusty and made a couple of mistakes.

World Athletics Championships Oregon22 – Day Nine – Eugene
Great Britain’s Cindy Sember (left) with USA’s Kendra Harrison (right) in their heat. (Martin Rickett/PA)

“It is a very fast track and I got to race on it at the Prefontaine (Diamond League) earlier this year but it’s so nice to be racing on it for the World Championships. I am really excited to be racing on it again on Sunday.

“I do have so much confidence this year. I have a different approach this season, I haven’t competed as much as I usually do so I don’t feel like I’ve hit my peak quite yet but I do feel something exceptional is coming.”

In the evening session, Dina Asher-Smith is expected to return to the women’s 4x100m relay squad for the final with the men also competing for a medal. Jess Judd and Eilish McColgan also run in the 5,000m final.

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