LIMA, Peru — If defending sprint hurdles champion Kerrica Hill is phased by her quest to make history at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Lima, she is not showing it.

Hill, who is the world leader and who is seeking to be the first athlete to defend the 100m hurdles title after setting the championships record 12.77 seconds in Cali, Colombia two years ago, made smooth progress to Thursday afternoon’s semi-finals along with Habiba Harris.

Asked about her quest to be the first to win back-to-back gold medals, Hill told Observer Online, “we will see tomorrow”.

Hill led all qualifiers after she won her heat in 13.18 seconds (0.4m/s) while Harris, ranked number two in the world, was second in her heat in 13.74 seconds, both races run in cold conditions and on a track that was slippery after morning showers.

The semi-finals will be run in the afternoon starting at 3:05pm and the final on Friday afternoon.

Hill, who travelled to Peru from Europe where she was based with members of the Elite Performance team, said being there helped her.

“Coming here was always the main focus, so going to Europe, where I can zone in alone, was really good preparation…and I think I really appreciate going to Europe to get ready to come to the world Under-20.”

She noted that the conditions were not the best stating, “The track was still wet and the hands were kind of slippery, but we’re getting through it round by round”.

Harris, the national Under-20 champion, was not as smooth in her race but said the main objective was met.

“I qualified for the next round, the execution could have been a little better, but you know, you do what you have to do, you learn from it and so I qualified…there’s always another chance to execute better,” Harris said.

— Paul A Reid