The mixed 4x400m at the World Athletics U20 Championships Oregon got off to an electric start, with several national records set and a world lead achieved.
The US quartet of Joshua Shelton, Natalie Dumas, Jaelen Hunter and Olivia Harris led the way, clocking 3:18.26 for the fourth-fastest U20 performance in history.
They cruised through to the final, where they will be joined by Australia, who clocked 3:19.59 to finish second in that heat, and Spain (3:21.90).
Great Britain & NI, Poland and Czechia raced to qualification places in the first heat, Great Britain utilising a strong anchor leg from Noa Chodokufa to move from third to first in 3:21.27 and Czechia improving the national U20 record by almost two seconds to 3:21.58.
Jamaica won the second heat in 3:21.47 ahead of South Africa and Colombia, respectively setting national U20 records of 3:22.12 and 3:22.14 to also qualify for the final.
Leading sprint contenders advance
Jamaica’s Theianna-Lee Terrelonge got off to a strong start in the women’s 100m, topping the first round with 11.21. Her compatriot Shanoya Douglas, the world U20 leader, ran 11.35 to comfortably qualify for the semifinals along with fellow medal contenders Mariah and Mia Maxwell of the USA who respectively clocked 11.33 and 11.37.
Saint Lucia’s 17-year-old Jady Emmanuel improved her own national U18 record to 11.28 to win her heat ahead of Guyana’s Athaleyha Hinckson (11.31) and others joining them in the next round include Emma Goretzka (11.29), Kelly Doualla (11.35) and Xenia Buri (11.38).
The men’s 100m heats also featured top performances from the favourites. After winning the Wanda Diamond League 200m in Eugene, Tate Taylor returned and demonstrated his prowess in the 100m. He ran 10.05, 0.01 off his PB, to lead the first round. Jamaica’s world U20 leader Gary Card, whose PB of 9.93 places him joint third on the world U20 all-time list, ran 10.07 to advance, while South Africa’s Marko Ferreira clocked 10.11. Hong Kong’s Kwok Chun Ting (10.29) and Estonia’s Dmitri Petrogradov (10.37) both set national U20 records to progress.
Uganda’s 17-year-old Shafeck Murungi improved his PB by almost two seconds with 1:46.64 to lead the first round of the men’s 800m. Australia’s Daniel Willams, who entered with the field’s top PB, ran 1:47.47 and Morocco’s African silver medallist Imad Bouchajda also comfortably qualified.
Japan’s 18-year-old Asian silver medallist Rin Kubo ran 2:03.27 to top the heats of the women’s 800m, two years on from her sixth-place finish at the World U20 Championships in Lima. Slovenia’s 16-year-old Živa Remic (2.09:86) also comfortably qualified for the semifinals along with Ethiopia’s Habtam Gebeyehu (2:04.66), but they won’t be joined in the next round by Kenya’s Nancy Jepngetich as she was disqualified for breaking her lane too early.
Brown runs championship heptathlon 100m hurdles best
Great Britain’s Thea Brown made history with a blazing start to the heptathlon. Her 13.23 PB in the 100m hurdles was a championship heptathlon best, a 0.01 improvement on the previous best that was set by Nadine Visser also in Eugene when the event was last held at Hayward Field in 2014. World U20 leader Enni Virjonen opened well, too, finishing second in 13.36.
Brown went on to finish second in the high jump with a clearance of 1.78m, behind Finland’s Nuppu Willman with a PB of 1.81m, to end the morning session top of the leaderboard on 2043 points. Portugal’s Natacha Candé and France’s Zola Ndouma-Mona sit second and third overall so far, with 1979 and 1942, while Virjonen occupies fifth place (1877) after the morning’s action.
South African U20 javelin champion Jan-Hendrik Heymans started off hot in Eugene, hitting the automatic qualifying mark on his first throw with 76.02m. That was more than six metres farther than the next best throw, and the sole attempt beyond 70 metres. Behind Heymans, three athletes surpassed 69 metres, including India’s Ashish Yadav (69.87m), Poland’s Aleksander Wojna (69.80m) and China’s Yang Zhaoyi (69.80m), setting the stage for a final that could feature a tight medal fight. USA’s Nolan Carey, who set a PB of 74.72m in May and won the US U20 title in Eugene in July, did not advance.
Chen throws world U20 lead
Chinese U20 champion Chen Jiawei clinched his spot in the hammer final with a big PB and the best U20 throw in the world this year, 80.39m. That mark was more than six metres farther than the next closest contender.
Poland’s Jan Delewski, who entered with the best PB of the field, had the second longest throw at 73.61m. Cyprus’s Alexandros Ghamrawi, the third athlete in the field to have ever thrown beyond 77 metres, qualified with 72.38m. Ecuador’s Patry Ivan Valdez Arroyo set a national U20 record of 71.62m to also clinch a spot in the final.
Greek U20 champion Aristion Anastasios Papadopoulos punched his ticket into the shot put final with a 19.82m throw to lead qualification. Right behind him is Korea’s Asian U20 record-holder Park Si-hoon who threw 19.69m. Brazilian U20 champion Alessandro Borges also had a strong showing, throwing 19.69m.
They will be joined in the final by NACAC U18 champion Jayden Walcott (18.86m), but they won’t face world U20 leader Omar Hussein who won the US U20 title in Eugene with a 20.97m PB, as his best of 18.54m was not enough to progress.
Ella Alvelin Malm of Sweden soared a PB of 6.36m in the long jump to become the sole athlete to hit the automatic qualifying mark of 6.35m, improving her previous best by 10 centimetres. Greece’s Evelyn Mitropoulou topped her group with 6.33m, while France’s Djelika Diarra (6.28m) and Hungary’s Bori Rózsahegyi (6.17m) also qualified for what looks set to be a competitive final.
