BARCELONA, Spain – LSU freshmen Aaron Ernest and Andreas Duplantis opened with a successful day of qualifying during Tuesday’s action at the 2012 IAAF World Junior Championships while earning a spot in the next round of their respective events at Barcelona’s historic Olympic Stadium.
Duplantis, who competes internationally for Sweden, only needed two jumps to earn his spot in the men’s pole vault final as the first Tiger to compete during Tuesday’s opener in Spain.
Duplantis had first-attempt clearances at 16 feet, 6 ¾ inches and 16-10 ¾ as he was among the 14 finalists advancing to Thursday’s action with his sights on a medal in his first IAAF World Junior Championships. He owns a lifetime personal record of 17-5 ½ set during the 2012 outdoor season that ranks No. 10 for the world junior list this year as one of the NCAA’s top freshmen in the event.
Ernest also opened his medal quest with a victory in the seventh of nine first-round heats in the men’s 100 meters with a run of 10.39 seconds while easing up near the finish line for the easy win ahead of the 10.48 by Great Britain’s Chijindu Ujah in a race run into a strong headwind of 1.6 meters per second.
Ernest is the No. 2-ranked 100-meter sprinter in the world junior rankings for the 2012 season with his PR of 10.17 as he is a gold-medal contender for the United States.
Ernest will line up in the 100-meter semifinal on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. CT, before running in the final at 2:45 p.m. He is also slated to run in three rounds of the 200-meter dash as the first and semifinal rounds will run Thursday before Friday’s championship final. In addition, Ernest hopes to lead the USA to a gold medal in the 4×100-meter relay with races scheduled for Friday and Saturday.
Also competing for the United States on the opening day of action at the World Junior Championship was Tiger freshman Rodney Brown, who threw a best of 179-4 in three attempts in men’s discus qualifying, as he finished in 18th place overall in the event. Only 12 throwers advanced to Thursday’s discus final.
Time Schedule for LSU’s Entries at the 2012 IAAF World Junior Championships
Note: Times are Central and subject to change based on round-by-round qualifying.
Wednesday, July 11
12:30 p.m. – Men’s 100 Meters Semifinal (Aaron Ernest)
2:45 p.m. – Men’s 100 Meters Final (Aaron Ernest)
Thursday, July 12
2:55 a.m. – Men’s 200 Meters First Round (Aaron Ernest)
11:45 a.m. – Men’s Pole Vault Final (Andreas Duplantis)
12:00 p.m. – Men’s 200 Meters Semifinal (Aaron Ernest)
Friday, July 13
12:05 p.m. – Men’s 4×100 Relay Semifinal (Aaron Ernest)
2:30 p.m. – Men’s 200 Meters Final (Aaron Ernest)
Saturday, July 14
12:35 p.m. – Men’s 4×400 Relay Semifinal (Quincy Downing)
2:50 p.m. – Men’s 4×100 Relay Final (Aaron Ernest)
Sunday, July 15
1:10 p.m. – Men’s 4×400 Relay Final (Quincy Downing)