Holder into World Indoor semis

Nikkita Holder

Istanbul, Turkey – Nikkita Holder of Pickering, Ont., Michael Leblanc of Riverview, N.B., and Justyn Warner of Markham, Ont., advanced to tomorrow’s semis in their respective events at the 2012 World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.

Holder didn’t take any chances coming out of the blocks registering a reaction time of 0.318, “I’m happy to move onto the next round, this is my first World Indoors and I wanted to make sure I didn’t false start. I had a slow start but came on stronger over the last few hurdles; looking to build on that for next round (tomorrow).” The 60-metre hurdles semi-finals are slated for Saturday at 10:10am eastern time.

In the men’s 60-metres Warner got off to a blazing start and never looked back finishing second in heat five in a time of 6.75. “I came here with the objective of making the final, today was the first step towards that.” The semi-finals for the 60-metres take place tomorrow morning at 10:30am eastern Time.

Michael Leblanc also advanced to the 60-metres semis finishing second in heat eight in a time of 6.74. “We’ve had a plan all season to be here, I’m not going down without a fight; today was a good test of where I stand.”

Armstrong does not advance

Dylan Armstrong of Kamloops, B.C., was hoping for a better result, unfortunately soreness in his throwing arm was too much to overcome as he attempted to qualify for the shot put final. “My arm has been sore, it flared up before I left for Turkey but it got better and I was hoping there wasn’t going to be any issues.  Unfortunately it flared up on me again and just didn’t feel right when I was extending to throw so I was hesitant in the circle to push hard and risk any serious injury.”

Armstrong finished ninth overall with a throw of 19.86-metres, missing the final by one spot. “This isn’t going to be a long term concern, the athletic therapist is working on it and this will all be behind me very shortly. I’m still in a heavy training phase so that does take a toll on the body.”