Jerusalem's Givat Ram Stadium closed out the Israeli Athletics Championship on Tuesday with two of the meet's sharpest storylines saved for last: a national under-18 record from Hila Versano and a sprint double from Marcy Afrifah.
Versano, who runs for Maccabi Tel Aviv, clocked 59.53 seconds in the women's 400m hurdles to break the Israeli record for girls under 18. She crossed the line second overall in the race itself.
The race went to Noa Levi, the country's dominant 400m hurdler of recent seasons, who won comfortably. ONE's report puts her winning time at 48.82 seconds — a figure that would obliterate the world record and is almost certainly a misprint — so we're not repeating that number here pending confirmation from the Israel Athletics Association.
None of that takes away from Versano's night. Breaking a national age-group record while finishing runner-up to an established senior champion is exactly the kind of result that points to genuine depth building behind Israel's top hurdlers.
In the sprints, Marcy Afrifah completed a clean double over 100m and 200m. ONE did not report her winning time in the 100m, but in the 200m she held off rival Alina Drotman for the second time this season, stopping the clock at 24.19 seconds.
Afrifah, who also competes for Maccabi Tel Aviv, is the younger sister of Blessing Afrifah, Israel's European U23 200m champion and a 2024 Olympian — sprinting pedigree that now runs through the family.
The men's 200m went to Gal Ard in 20.68 seconds, while the long jump produced the day's most dramatic finish: Yishai Efraimov trailed for most of the competition before leaping 7.66m on his sixth and final attempt to overtake both Eden Sela and Nikita Mirkin, who had each reached 7.44m.
Romi Tamir added a jumps double of her own, following her long jump title with gold in the triple jump at 13.12m. Noam Mamo took the men's 800m in 1:53.50, and Kroan Halabi-Kabalan closed out a distance double, backing up Monday's 1,500m win with victory in the women's 800m in 2:07.09.
For Israeli track and field, though, it's Versano's mark that will carry furthest — a new bar for the country's under-18 hurdlers, set on the biggest stage the domestic calendar offers.
