Ramsden and Rodgers impress at 2019 Athletics World Championships

Five West Australian’s competed in sweltering conditions with Rochelle Rodgers finished 35th in the Marathon on debut and Matthew Ramsden setting a new personal best on his way to 15th in the 1500 metres leading the way.

Rochelle Rodgers was one of the first athletes to compete in the Marathon on the opening day of competition. Rodgers, who was making her debut finished 35th navigating her way though temperatures that hovered around 35 degrees Celsius despite the midnight start, with 80% humidity.

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” she said after the finish, in which 23 of the field didn’t finish.

After sneaking in to the semifinal as the final qualifier Matt Ramsden set a new personal best of 3mins 37.16secs in the 1500m to finish in 15th and narrowly miss a spot in the 12 person final. Gold went to Timothy Cheruiyot of with a time of 3mins 29.26secs Kenya ahead of Taoufik Makhloufi (Algeria) and Marcin Lewandowski (Poland).

Brianna Beahan’s fourth place in her 100 metre hurdles heat saw her move through to the semifinal, where she finished in seventh place with a time of 13.38secs. Rio Olympic silver medallist Nia Ali (United States) claimed gold in 12.34secs, ahead of Kendra Harrison (United States) and Danielle Williams (Jamacia).

In the Pole Vault Elizaveta Parnova had a best clearance of 4.35m in qualifying, which saw her finish the competition in 28th. Authorised Neutral Athlete Anzhelika Sidorova won gold with a jump of 4.95m, 5cms ahead of Sandi Morris (United States) with Katerina Stefanidi (Greece) completing the podium a further five seconds back.

Peter Bol finished his 800m heat fifth in 1min 46.92secs for the 31st fastest time and missed out on advancing to the semi final.