Wilson Medals, Reaches Three Finals at World Juniors
July 14, 2018 | Track & Field
TAMPERE, Finland โ UCLA freshman phenom Alyssa Wilson capped off a superlative-filled debut season in Westwood with a standout showing at the IAAF World U20 Championships, finishing second overall in the hammer throw and reaching the final of the discus and shot put competitions to cement herself as the lone female athlete at the World Juniors to reach the finals in three throwing events.
Wilson, a Jackson, N.J. native, saved her best for last at the meet, finishing second in the hammer on Saturday in her final event of the week. Her top mark was a throw of 64.45m (211-5) on her fourth attempt, which ended up about a half meter behind winner Camryn Rogers of Canada (64.90m). Wilson was the lone athlete to surpass the 64m mark on multiple occasions.
She had previously qualified for the final with a mark of 58.71m (192-7) in the preliminaries.
Earlier in the week, Wilson competed to a 10th place finish in the discus throw. In the final, she landed a 46.77m (153-5) on her first attempt, which ended up being her top mark. She had a solid 53.32m (174-11) effort in the preliminaries to reach the final.
Though she had a disappointing finish in the shot put final, Wilson looked solid early on in that event, leading the entire field with a top mark of 17.02m (55-11) in the prelims, which represented her second-best outdoor mark as a collegiate athlete. This week was the third time that Wilson represented the USA in the shot put in international competition after her No. 2 showing at the 2016 World Juniors and her championship-winning effort at the 2017 Pan American Games.
Despite being a true freshman, Wilson grabbed headlines all year for the Bruins. She was the lone female athlete nationwide to qualify for three individual events at the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, taking home All-America honors with a fourth-place finish in the hammer and a sixth-place finish in the shot put. ย Her 66.99m (219-9) hammer throw at NCAAs was second-best in UCLA history and she also reached the Bruins' top-10 list at No. 9 in the shot put with a 17.21m (56-5.75) effort at NCAAs.
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