Underage success gives no guarantee for senior career

Last week the World Junior Athletics Championships took place in Oregon’s Hayward Field.

It was the first time the US had hosted any kind of Athletics World Championship in 22 years and the first time in history to host an outdoor event. Is the World Junior Championships a big deal or is it just the first rung on the athletics ladder?

I competed at the World Junior Championships in 2000 in Santiago de Chile. I ran an Irish junior record in the heats and then pretty much bombed in the semi-final, finishing last. I was 16th overall in the world. The difference between my performance and that of the girls who won medals was immense. If the world juniors were the first step on the athletics ladder my impact was so minor I was clinging by my fingernails to that first rung.