World U20s – Day 2: Alice Hill proceeds into the 400m final

7 August 2026

World U20s – Day 2: Alice Hill proceeds into the 400m final

NSW athletes produced a terrific series of results in the 400s on day two of the World Athletics U20 Championships being held at the famous Hayward Field in Eugene. The highlight was Alice Hill, who comfortably qualified for the women’s 400m final, where she starts as the youngest competitor. There was also a significant PB in the shot by the rapidly improving Manaia Coulter.

400 METRES
Three NSW athletes produced two great 400m runs each in a single day with just eight hours between the races.
Newcastle year 11 student, Alice Hill was the star clocking 53.82 seconds to win her heat. The win set her up for a favourite semifinal where she produced a PB of 53.28 to proceed into the final with her second place. She maybe ranked eight in the final, but she seems to have strategically run just fast enough to proceed to the next round. She starts in the nine person final as the youngest by eight months. Only recently turned 17, she is racing four 19-year-olds. The final is now 24 hours away for Alice who is age eligible for the 2028 World U20 Championships.

As a finalist she has already joined an illustrious group of just nine Australian women quarter milers. They are seven Olympians (Jana Pittman, Ella Connolly, Jessica Thornton, Angeline Blackburn, Tamsyn Manou, Ellie Beer, Susan Andrews) and a Commonwealth Games gold medallist Rosemary Hayward.  Elite company indeed now for Alice.

After the heat Alice said:
"My goal was to replicate my PB at nationals and I think I did that very well. It is super motivating being a member of this Australian team."
Then after the semifinal she reflected on her support team.
"I am so happy, so grateful for my coach, my parents and the Australian Athletics support, they all really helped me to get here. My parents are here, it means so much that they could come here and watch me."
Going very close to qualifying for the final was another Newcastle athlete, Shari Hurdman, who is now a student studying psychology/neuroscience at San Diego State University. Shari was second in her heat with 53.03, then in the semifinal placed 4th – agonisingly just missing the final by one place. 

Wollongong’s Chase Grant was equally as impressive. In the morning he was 4th in his semi with a time of 46.27 – fractionally outside his PB. In the semi he ran 46.36 for 4th place, missing the final by just one place.

SHOT PUT women
Bankstown’s Manaia Coulter has this year made amazing progress and that continued in Eugene today. She arrived at the championships with a PB of 14.68m and after two puts of 14.26m, on her last attempt in the qualifying round she blasted a 14.99m effort. It added 31cm to her lifetime best. She also moved herself into the top-12 Australian junior all-time. In a very high standard competition, Manaia placed 18th overall and did not qualify for the final.

To put the performance in context, Manaia threw further than South Australian Marley Raikiwasa who placed 7th at the World U20s in 2024. Marley has gone on to break many records as a senior and with her selection for Glasgow was the first Australian athlete for a decade to compete in the shot at the Commonwealth Games.

TRIPLE JUMP men
The NSW’s two representative went so close to qualification for the triple jump final. Hills athlete, Lian Anagnostopoulos set a PB of 15.62m. He opened with a equal season best of 15.45m, then in round two he raised his PB by 5cm to 15.55m, then close with another lifetime best of 15.62m. He was 5th in his pool group, but 13th overall, missing the final by just one place and 7cm. 
Wagga’s Daniel Okerenyang didn’t have the best preparation, injuring his ankle last week. He started the competition with a heavily strapped ankle and on his last and best jump he hit 15.50m, despite being 40cm behind the board. He placed 13th overall, just 19cm behind qualification for the final. Daniel now heads to Florida University on an athletics scholarship. 

400M HURDLES
Unfortunately, Wollongong’s Maiya Hewitt was unable to compete due to a hamstring injury sustained at the training camp. A scan in Eugene ruled her out of the competition.
She and coach/Dad Joshua remained positive taking in as much of the experience and supporting the Australian team.

In the men’s race NSW had two starters William Tait and Ethan Williams. Will placed 6th in his heat in a time of 54.72, missing qualification for the next round. He was competing on limited training due to recovery from a stress fracture in his back.

Maitland’s Ethan Williams had a tough day. Approaching the last hurdle, he was in a qualifying position with two other athletes, but he hit the hurdle and fell. He got back to his feet to finish 8th in a  time of 59.91.

4X100M RELAY MIXED
Randwick Botany’s Maya Taber ran second leg on the Australian 4x100m mixed relay that clocked 41.64 – the second fastest time in the heats. As they won the first heat, they set the inaugural world record. They run the final on day four.

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW
Image:  Alice Hill (Ben Levy/Australian Athletics)