Athletics: Hulls 20th in 200m at junior worlds

Dean Hulls, father and coach of Georgia Hulls.

Hawke's Bay sprinter Georgia Hulls has finished 20th in the women's 200m event in the World Under-20 (junior) Championship in Poland.

The 16-year-old finished fourth in her heat in 23.99s, earning an automatic-qualifying slot to the semifinal in Bydgoszcz on Saturday.

The Havelock North High School pupil came sixth in the semifinal in 24.06s, her father and personal coach, Dean Hulls, said.

Her contribution as a member of the New Zealand contingent is over in the five-day championship.

The New Zealand junior women's relay team, without Hulls in the equation, won their heat in 44.57s, but were disqualified for a lane infringement.

The senior Hulls said the relay team had established a national record time (the senior relay record is 44.6s) but, no doubt, it wouldn't be recognised.

"The relay coach thought it was too close to the 200m semifinals [for Georgia to compete]," he said of the teenager who won the 200m in Frankfurt, Germany, and also in Lodz, Poland, in the build up to the world juniors.

The Kiwis will fly back home today.