Fast Break
Track and field
Anderson makes finals
For the second consecutive day, Washington State University freshman Jeshua Anderson ran the fastest time in the men’s 400-meter hurdles by clocking in with a time of 49.90 seconds in the semifinal heats Thursday at the 12th Annual International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Anderson, from Woodland Hills, Calif., won the second of three heats. The top two finishers in each semifinal heat and the next two fastest times advanced on to the eight-man final today. The other USA competitor in this event, Johnny Dutch from the University of South Carolina, won the first heat in 50.40.
Surfing
Don’t play with lava
A professional surfer said his up-close encounter with volcano lava was thrilling, but he wouldn’t recommend it.
C.J. Kanuha paddled within 20 feet of the lava that meets the boiling water crashing on shore. Photos taken from a helicopter were recently published in Outside Magazine.
The 24-year-old Kanuha, of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, said he was culturally respectful, saying a prayer to volcano goddess Pele when he got onto the nearby black sand shore.
County Civil Defense Director Quince Mento told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin it’s dangerous in the area and called Kanuha’s visit “really not smart.”
Auto racing
That’s not the right car
A car unveiled at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame and touted as the car the late Dale Earnhardt drove to his first victory at Talladega Superspeedway is not that car, the car’s owner and Hall of Fame officials have confirmed.
The 1982 Ford Thunderbird unveiled Tuesday at the hall in Talladega, Ala., was driven by Earnhardt but is not the car in which he won the 1983 Talladega 500.
The Hall of Fame and the car’s owner blamed each other for the inaccurate information.
The Birmingham (Ala.) News first noticed a discrepancy when photos of the car unveiled did not match the newspaper’s file photographs of Earnhardt’s car taken during the 1983 Talladega 500.