Athletics: Hulls' solo run in semis falls short

Georgia Hulls

It was a case of language barrier but Hawke's Bay sprinter Georgia Hulls was the first one to admit she will need to tune in in future after the drama surrounding her disqualification and then reinstatement of sorts in Colombia at the weekend.

The Havelock North High School pupil advanced finished 10th in the 200m event at the World Youth championship in Cali. With a time of 24.18s Hulls missed the final by 0.11 of a second.

She made it to the semifinal with 24.47 in the heats. In the semifinal she made a false start but protested.

"I tried to run under protest but the officials couldn't speak English. I was told I had the opportunity to run about an hour after," said Hulls, who receives coaching from her father, Dean.

The teenager claimed she didn't hear the starter's gun.

The organisers let her run the semifinal on her own where she clocked 24.18. It wasn't quick enough to advance to the final.

"Maybe I could have run the time required in a proper race. It was the hardest run I've ever done with no competitors," Hulls was quoted as saying in the Athletics New Zealand media release.

She said it was still a great experience although she might need to listen a bit more attentively in future.

In the 100m semifinals, Hulls slashed 0.11 from her personal best. She clocked 11.85 to finish third, just 0.02 behind an automatic qualification spot.

Hulls progressed as the quickest of the eight next fastest qualifiers. She ran 11.98 in her semifinal to finish seventh but it wasn't quick enough time to progress to the final.

Gold Coast-based Olivia Burdon ran a personal best 4:21.36 to make the final of the 1500m.

The 17-year-old finished ninth in the final, stopping the clock at 4:23.04.