The smoke moved on, but the sky opened up Thursday at the 2023 PDGA Amateur and Junior Disc Golf World Championships.

But, as it has throughout the Mother Nature-driven week so far, the competition — all 800-plus resilient players — moved on in Peoria, Illinois.

Schedule Update for Friday and Saturday in Peoria »

Poor air quality from wildfires forced suspensions on Tuesday and a full cancellation of Wednesday's rounds. The Air Quality Index improved, but the weather's second punch included heavy lightning, wind and rain on Thursday, forcing even more suspensions.

• Leaderboard & Live Scoring: Am Worlds
• Leaderboard & Live Scoring: Junior Worlds

Everyone powered through, from playing two rounds in a day, to teeing off knowing that, yet again, the round would not be complete and the morning would come early. But the march towards a PDGA World Championship continues.

Here's a look at the action heading into Friday in Peoria:

• MA1 continues to be the hardest-hit by the weather delays. Thursday's top card in the A Pool teed off at 7:20 p.m. and played five holes before the horns sounded again, this time for darkness. Axel Olson holds his lead but has 13 holes to go on Friday morning at Northwood Black. Owen Hamilton had the hot round on Thursday of 63 to make a jump up the leaderboard.

Tanner Young lines up a putt during MA1 action on Thursday. Photo: Conrad Meyer / PDGA

• In FA1, who completed their first two rounds, Indiana's Hannah Lengel had the hot round again to build a 7-stroke lead. Amber Jones, Kate Douthat and Alexa Marx round out the lead card in a three-way tie for second. The FA1 field moves to Sunset Hills on Friday.
• Judah Kooistra kept his lead in MJ18, the rest of the field cut into it. Patrick Yu kept his spot in second and moved to within a stroke of Kooistra after Thursday's round at Eureka. Norway's Nicolai Hagen had the hot round of the day — 1023 — to jump to third place, four strokes off the lead. Hagen started 5-for-5 and went 6-down through a 4-hole stretch on the back — including an ace and an eagle — for his 12-under round. That also included a bogey and double bogey. Waden Sides also dropped a 1000-plus rated round to move to the lead card.

Eliezra Midtlyng drives at Kennel Lake on Thursday. Photo: Danny Voss / PDGA

• In FJ18, Eliezra Midtlyng grew her lead and the battle for the podium is on. Midtlyng grew her lead to 14 strokes with the second-hottest round of the day at Kennel Lake. Lillianne Waite and Trinity Bryant kept their spots on the lead card and are tied for second. Montana Adams bounce back with a 904-rated round to move into fourth place.
• Five players are within five strokes in MJ15, all chasing Sylus Williams at the top. Williams has a two-stroke lead over Asher Weideman, who jumped into second place with a 1009-rated round on Thursday at McNaughton. Riven Tanner and Herman Bentzen Hinkel are tied for third at 21-under, three strokes back.
• Therese Cuevas maintained pace by tying the hot round of the day at Kennel Lake. Cuevas had a 2-under back nine to keep her lead 6-stroke lead. Kayla Hess matched the plus-2 round is in solo second, three strokes ahead of Virginia Polkinghorne and five strokes ahead of Addison Woodard.

Taaniel Mehine kept his lead in MJ12. Photo: Hayden Henry / PDGA

• An exciting finish is brewing in MJ12. Estonia's Taaniel Mehine kept his cool and spot atop the leaderboard as the rest of the card surged. Holt Whitted dropped a 978-rated round at Bradley Park to pull within a stroke of the leader. Kaidin Bell made the jump from the third card with the second-hottest round. Ty Waggoner kept his spot on the lead card and is four strokes out of second and five out of the lead.
• An even more exciting finish is brewing in FJ12, where there's a three-way tie for the lead between Nova Belanger, MJ Gager and Peyton Kohut. Belanger had the hot round of the day on Thursday — 60 points above her rating.
• It's also a tight race in MJ10, where Georgia's Marcelino Cisneros leads by two strokes over Cole Kresge and three strokes over Nathan Brewer and Jaxton Taylor.

Genevieve Davis leads Hayden Harper by five strokes in FJ10. Photo: Justin Anderson / PDGA

• It's a three-player race in MJ8 with Rylan Haag leads by just one stroke over William Larson. Vejas Mikuzis is in third, three strokes off the lead.
• Sarah Wadsorth is out in front by 12 strokes in FJ8. Hanniel Midtlyng is in second.