The Rio 2016 bound Jessica Thornton (NSW) made easy work of her girl’s 400m heat on day one at the IAAF World Under 20 Championships 2016 in Bydgoszcz (POL).

Thornton burst out of the blocks and setup her race on the back straight before making it down the final straight comfortably to progress automatically in second place of heat five in a time of 53.70, behind Lynna Irby (USA).

“I was so excited to just get out there and run,” Thornton said.

“Watching the rest of the Australians smash it this morning gave me more positivity and I just went out hard like I usually do and then with 150m to go I eased up and made sure I was in top three for auto qualification.”

“I just cruised it home, because the final is where it counts, I just need to get to there now.”

In the final heat of the girl’s 400m, Molly Blakey (NSW) finished seventh in a time of 55.49 and was happy just to get to the start line after an interrupted preparation.

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