Paige Sheppard, a rising senior at Union Catholic, blasted into the final of the women's 800-meter run at the World Under-20 Championships with an impressive victory in the semifinal round on Friday night at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
The 16 year-old Sheppard, who is committed to Stanford, ran 2:01.97 to win the second of the three semifinal heats. The top three finishers in each semifinal advanced to Saturday's final, which is scheduled for 10:17 p.m.
Sheppard jumped right to the front and controlled the race the whole way, ripping a 59.59 first 400 to take command, and then she closed in 31.62 over the final 200 to secure the victory. The 2:01.97 by Sheppard was the fastest time of all the semifinal races combined, making her the top seed in the final.
Sheppard, who won the 800 at the U.S. Under-20 Championships, owns a personal best of 2:00.65. The only runners in the final who have run faster in their career than Sheppard are Rin Kubo of Japan (1:59.52), Ziva Remic of Slovokia (1:59.64), and Habtam Gebeyehu of Ethiopia (1:59.72).
Not only does Sheppard, who has won 3 national titles in her career and owns 4 NJ records, have a good chance of winning the gold medal on Saturday, but she will also also be chasing the U.S. national high school record of 1:59.04, set by Olympian Juliette Whittaker of Mount de Sales Academy in Maryland in 2022.