HE may not have finished in first place, but with a time that will send him to the world junior championships, Williamstown athlete Joel Hogarth may as well have won at Albert Park on Saturday.
The 800m runner out of the Athletics Essendon stable went under the qualifying mark for the biannual IAAF event for the 19-and-under in his race at the Melbourne Track Classic.
Hogarth was fifth in the 800m B-race, but his 1.50.41 time was inside the 1.50.50 standard required for world junior championship qualification.
The 18-year-old took good form into the senior meet after taking out the under-20 state championship in 1:55.97 on the same track the previous week.
With the field wanting a fast opening lap, Essendon clubmate Mark Blicavs set the pace on Saturday night and left the field to battle out a finish where four competitors finished within a second of winner Johnny Rayner.
“We went through the first lap in about 52 seconds and I was sitting about fifth or sixth,” Hogarth said.
“I was happy with the way the race panned out; it was very close.
“We were a little bit strung out over the last lap, but the finish was very tight.”
Hogarth will now set his schedule to prepare for the world juniors, to be held in Barcelona in Spain from July 10-15.
– Teo Pellizzeri
