By Jim Spier

The U.S. led the medal count once again.  It was generally a good meet for the U.S., given the time of year.

There were many world leaders absent, many of whom were Americans.  Here is the list (World U20 leaders who were not present in Lima).

Males

100m               Christian Miller                     USA                            9.93

(Concentrated on the US Olympic Trials, at which he made the final)

 200m               Nyckoles Harbor                   USA                            20.20

(Was not at US U20 Qualifying meet; is a college football player at U of S Carolina)

400m               Quincy Wilson                       USA                            44.20

(Relay pool for US Olympic team; gold medalist by virtue of being on qualifying team)

1500m             Neils Laros                             Netherlands               3:29.54

(Finished 6th at Olympic Games 1500m; opted to not competed in U20 meet)

3000m             Melkenah Azeze                    Ethiopia                      7:39.13

(One of two sub 7:40 Ethiopians who opted out of this event)

5000m             Binium Mehary                     Ethiopia                      13:54.10

(The best of the top three athletes, all of whom are Ethiopian, who opted out of this event)

High Jump     Stepan Vetkin                        Russia                         7-05.25

(the Russia ban)

Pole Vault       Maddox Hamm                     USA                            18-02.5

(Opted for Olympic Trials; did not make team)

Females

100m               Cynteria James                      USA                            11.01

(Since he finished 3rd at the US U20 Championships, she was not one of the two who competed.  She was, however, on the ill-fated 4x100m Relay team)

200m               JaMeesia Ford                       USA                            22.08

(NCAA runner-up opted for US Olympic Trials)

400m               JaMeesia Ford                       USA                            50.33

(Opted for Olympic Trials)

800m               Phoebe Gill                             Great Britain             1:57.86

(Olympic semi-finalist)

1500m             Birke Haylom            Ethiopia                      3:53.22

(Olympic semi-finalist)

3000m             Kassie Wubrist        Ethiopia                      8:33.65

5000m             Birke Haylom            Ethiopia                      14:23.71

(Olympic semi-finalist in 1500m)

400m Hurd     Akala Garrett                        USA                            54.44

(Opted for Olympic Trials)

Pole Vault       Hana and Amanda Moll       USA                            15-02.25

(Opted for Olympic Trials)

Shot Put         Ashley Erasmus                     South Africa               59-07.5

Discus             Jiang Zhichao                        China                          211-07

(Paris Olympics) 

The Meet Itself

I didn’t expect the cold weather.  The forecast was a high of 65 degrees each day and a low of 55.  It was a lot colder than that.  Most Peruvians were wearing parkas.

This was the only World U20 championship where there was no media tribune (I have been to all but two).  It probably was just as well, since most journalists would not have stayed there.  Most of the coverage (except for the mixed zone just under the stadium where a lot of the interviews took place) was done under the stadium in the media room.  There were several large screen TVs so it made it relatively easy to watch the meet. 

We would venture outside as much as we could.

It was fun sitting with Bryce Ruland’s mother during the discus finals.  He was the first thrower of twelve in the finals, and threw the winning throw (ultimately) in that round.  The rest of the field played “catchup” but could not catch him.  Bryce is low key young man, celebrating with a smile  His mother, on the other hand, exhibited all of the joy one can imagine when one’s child had achieved such a victory.

One of the benefits of a meet like this is the new people you meet.  A young man from Nigeria, a content creator name Ese (cannot recall full name), was certainly fun to be around.  We went to lunch with him one day, along Tiara Williams and Paul Limmer.

 Ese, Paul Limmer, Jim Spier, Tiara Williams

Driving in Lima, Peru

It is unlike anything I have ever experienced.  And I grew up in New York, drove many times in Los Angeles and spent a lot of time trying to get around Washington, DC.  The following, from the “Lima Easy” web site, put it best:

Driving in Lima and Peru will be a very “interesting” experience if you are used to driving in North America or Europe.

If you are like me, you have been taught to practice defensive driving, but this is already your first big mistake when approaching the traffic for example in Lima. Maintain a secure distance to the vehicle in front of you? No, this would be your second mistake as all the other drivers will see this as a sign of weakness and without any politeness or etiquette abuse this space to radically squeeze in and leave you more and more back in traffic.

It is pretty much medieval rules where the most aggressive, strongest (biggest car or even the oldest as you wouldn’t mind the additional bump or two in your fender) and fastest to abuse the “weakness” of other drivers moves forward with a certain sign of satisfaction after gaining a car length...

You think I’m exaggerating? May be a little, but only a little as you will discover yourself very quickly once confronted with the permanently honking horns, the angry gestures and profanities that seem to combine to some sort of language – A very interesting kind of social interaction between humans!

Especially in the always hectic and totally overcrowded streets of Lima driving habits seem to be a Peruvian combination of "demolition derby" and a "game of chicken". If you can avoid it, think twice about driving in Lima and rather consider using a taxi, so you can enjoy the above mentioned without suffering personally. 

Venezuelans in Peru

One of our Uber drivers was an ex-pat from Venezuela.  He has been in Peru for seven years.  He said he had left because of the unstable political situation there.  There are now 1.3 million Venezuelans in Peru, with 80% of them in Lima. 

Pachacamac Visit

On one of our off-mornings, we (Paul Limmer, Tiara “Tee” Williams and me) joined a tour of Pachacamac, an 800 year old Inca ruin just south of Lima.

Pachacámac (Quechua: Pachakamaq) is an archaeological site 40 kilometres (25 mi) southeast of Lima, Peru in the Valley of the Lurín River. The site was first settled around A.D. 200 and was named after the "Earth Maker" creator god Pacha Kamaq. The site flourished for about 1,300 years until the Spanish invaded. Pachacamac covers about 600 hectares of land.

Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and informed.  One of the buildings was a temple where  Incas sacrificed young girls.   Tee was a bit reluctant at first to visit that place, but the age of sacrifice was between 9 and 13 years, so she felt safe since she would have been too old (and we would have protected her anyway!).

There were several tours of school children taking place while we were there.  Our guide, Martin’, mentioned to them (in Spanish, of course), that Tee was a “social influencer”.  They immediately “lost it”.  Tee may have well been Beyonce or Jennifer Lopez. Everyone wanted a picture taken with her, and they all got Tee’s Instagram and Tik Tok accounts to they could follow her.