Lalu Muhammad Zohri won first major GOLD for Indonesia – IAAF World U20
In major championships 100m finals, the eyes may always be drawn towards the central lanes, but Indonesia’s Lalu Muhammad Zohri proved once again that it’s always unwise to discount those further afield.
What a historical moment!
Lalu Muhammad Zohri becomes the first Indonesian ever to win any medal of any kind at these championships#IAAFworlds pic.twitter.com/Gc5aMf5yN4
— IAAF (@iaaforg) July 11, 2018
In the 32-year-history of the IAAF World U20 Championships, the best performance by an Indonesian athlete was an eighth-place finish in the 100m heats at the inaugural edition in 1986, but that all changed here tonight.
On a mild, breezy evening in Tampere, the 18-year-old Zohri unleashed a searing finish to his race to snatch gold in 10.18 (1.2m/s) ahead of USA duo Anthony Schwartz (10.22) and Eric Harrison (10.22). South Africa’s Thembo Monareng finished fourth in 10.23, with Britain’s Dominic Ashwell powering to a PB on the inside in 10.25.
Zohri came into the event as a respected, but far from feared, entity.
He had become Asian U20 champion earlier this year and lowered his best to 10.25 on home soil in Jakarta. But after the semi-finals, few would confidently have predicted his win, Zohri finishing second to USA’s Anthony Schwartz in 10.24, 0.05 behind.
