Andrew Alamisi at the 2024 World U20 Championships in Lima (© World Athletics 
Enzo Santos Barreiro)
Some of the biggest names in athletics – including multiple global champions Kenenisa Bekele, Eliud Kipchoge and Jacob Kiplimo – claimed U20 men’s titles early on in their careers. The world’s leading teenage talents will want to follow in their footsteps when they compete at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships Tallahassee 26 on Saturday (10).
Bekele won in 2001, Kipchoge in 2003 and Kiplimo in 2017, and not since 1991 has an athlete from a nation other than Ethiopia, Kenya or Uganda clinched the crown. In fact, it has been 25 years since an athlete from outside those three nations stood on the U20 men’s podium – and that was USA’s bronze medallist Dathan Ritzenhein in 2001.
While the U20 races are often hard to predict, Kenya has the chance to claim a third consecutive individual crown and Andrew Alamisi will be among those focused on retaining the title for his country. His compatriots Ishmael Kipkurui and Samuel Kibathi respectively won in Bathurst in 2023 and Belgrade in 2024 and the 18-year-old already has international experience as he won the world U20 5000m title in Lima in 2024. He was also second in the senior race at the World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold meeting in Seville in November, only narrowly beaten by Rodrigue Kwizera in a sprint finish, and he placed third in the U20 trial race in Eldoret in October.
Emmanuel Kiprono was the champion that day and the 17-year-old will surely be buoyed by finishing three seconds ahead of Frankline Kibet in that highly competitive race in Eldoret, with Alamisi a further four seconds back. They all feature on the Kenyan squad for Tallahassee along with Kelvin Kariankei, Andrew Kiptoo and Edwin Elkana.
Uganda’s Abraham Cherotich is another athlete who will be able to call on his major championship experience. The 18-year-old earned U20 bronze as part of a Ugandan sweep at the World Mountain & Trail Running Championships in Canfranc-Pirineos in September and he then won the national trial in Mbale in November.
Jeremiah Kwemoi, Solomon Andiema, Daniel Kiprotich Chelogoi and Dan Kipyeko followed Cherotich over the finish line in Mbale and join him on a Ugandan squad on the hunt for another team medal.
Ethiopia will be unable to extend its streak of winning a U20 men’s team medal at every edition since 1982, as visa challenges leave Ayele Sewnet as the nation’s sole entrant, short of the four athletes required for team scoring.
The 18-year-old will still want to make his mark in the individual race, following his ninth-place finish at the Jan Meda International Cross Country, which serves as the Ethiopian trial event, in Addis Ababa in November. He also placed ninth in the 5000m at the Ethiopian Championships in May.
After continental success on the track and cross country, Belgium’s Willem Renders steps on to the global stage. The 18-year-old won the European U20 5000m title in Tampere in August after setting a national U20 record in Oslo and then clinched cross-country gold in Lagoa in December.
He will renew his rivalry with 17-year-old Alois Abraham of France, who finished third behind Renders after a sprint finish in Lagoa before setting a national U20 5km record of 13:38 in Barcelona at the end of last month.
Aidan Torres won the U20 title at the US Cross Country Championships in Portland last month and leads the host nation team. He will be joined by runner-up Tyler Daillak and Daniel Skandera, who completed the podium in Portland.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics
