Irelands Alanna Lally off to a Flyer in Donetsk

Ireland's Alanna Lally (Galway City Harriers) got the eight strong Irish team off to a perfect start at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine. Lally, coached by PJ Coyle was drawn in the heat one of the girl's 400m with the first three automatically qualifying for the semi-finals.

Lally exuded confidence way beyond her year's cruising through the first 200m of the one lap race. Jamaican athlete Tiffany James showed her class by taking victory in a time of 54.66 with Lally demonstrating tremendous determination to finish second in 55.13. The time was a huge new personal best for the young Galway athlete and ranks her in 10th place going into semi-finals, scheduled for 5.10pm on Thursday, 10th of July.

Ireland had two throwers taking part in the Discus and Shot Putt events. Kayleigh Cronin (Spa Muckross AC) threw a distance of 37.86m and John Kelly (Finn Valley AC) threw 18.07m in the Shot Putt. Although both athletes were down on their season bests, the experience of competing at their first major international competition will stand to them in their future careers.