Athletics: 10th IAAF World Junior Championship-Loizeau sprints into record books |14 July 2004

Competing in the 100m first round of the 10th IAAF World Junior Championship in Grosseto, Italy, Loizeau clocked a fast time of 10.94 seconds to remove six hundredths of a second off his old personal best of 11.00 seconds registered in Réduit, Mauritius, on May 15 this year.

It is to note that the time of 11.00 seconds won Loizeau the 100m gold medal during the Lekip Sport Southern Region Cadet Athletics Championship.

The wind speed during the race was 1.9m per second, meaning that the Seychelles Amateur Athletics Federation (SAAF) will ratify the 17-year-old's youth (under 18) record.

Loizeau, an Industrial Training Centre (ITC) student who represents the future of sprinting in Seychelles, was fifth in heat number two won by Nigerian Uzodima Alozie in 10.53 seconds.

Despite not qualifying for the second round, Loizeau's time was faster than that of 20 of the 66 athletes who had entered for the first round qualifiers.

American Ivory Williams, running in the first heat, was the fastest qualifier with 10.41 seconds.

The top two runners in each of the nine heats automatically qualified for the second round along with the six fastest losers.

G. G.