ATHLETICS: Bay runner 16th in final | Hawkes Bay Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Hawkes Bay

Hawke's Bay's Laura Nagel finished 16th in her 3000m final at the junior world athletics championships in Moncton, Canada, yesterday.

Nagel ran a personal best time of 9m 25.91s in the 22-strong field. The winner, Kenyan Mercy Cherono, set a world record time of 8m 55.07s.

In a phone call to her coach Mike Cull after the race, Nagel said she was "pretty happy" with her performance considering she had been struggling for form prior to the champs and was running out of season.

Nagel won't be running the 1500m later in the week, as two other Kiwis have clocked faster qualifying times, but she will spend the rest of the week with the New Zealand team before heading to Providence College, Rhode Island, next month to start a four-year scholarship.

She is the only Bay member of the Kiwi team in Moncton and is the first Bay athlete chosen for this level of competition since fellow middle distance runner Jason Stewart 10 years ago.