Sembo Almayew at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (© AFP / Getty Images)
While many athletes will be preparing to make their international debut at the World Athletics U20 Championships Lima 24, for some the path to Peru has gone via Paris.
More than 50 athletes entered for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are eligible to compete at the U20 event in Lima, taking place from 27-31 August.
Here we highlight some of the class of ’24 who are set to travel from Paris to Lima to compete for age group honours.
Sembo Almayew, Ethiopia 🇪🇹
3000m steeplechase
Despite still being only 19 years old, Sembo Almayew is already a world U20 silver medallist and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was her third senior international event after the World Championships in Oregon in 2022 and Budapest in 2023.
Sembo Almayew in the 3000m steeplechase final in Paris (© Dan Vernon)
As a 17-year-old, Ethiopia’s Almayew secured silver behind Kenya’s Faith Cherotich – now an Olympic and world bronze medallist – at the 2022 edition of the World U20 Championships in Cali.
She most recently finished fifth in the Olympic final in Paris and she set a PB of 9:00.71 in Florence last year for a performance that puts her third on the world U20 all-time list. She was just 0.12 off that mark with the 9:00.83 she ran in Paris earlier this month and that sees her top this year’s world U20 list by almost 24 seconds.
Puripol Boonson, Thailand 🇹🇭
100m and 200m
Like Almayew, Thailand’s Puripol Boonson also competed at the last edition of the World U20 Championships in Cali, where he finished fourth as a 16-year-old in the 100m, a race won by Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo who recently became the Olympic 200m champion in Paris.
Puripol Boonson at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (© Christel Saneh for World Athletics)
In Cali, Boonson set a world U18 best of 10.09 in the 100m semifinals and was pipped to bronze by one thousandth of a second. That world U18 best was then improved to 10.06 by USA’s Christian Miller in July 2023 and Boonson matched the mark a couple of months later with a time that remains his PB. His 200m best of 20.19, set in 2022, is an Asian U20 record.
He raced the 100m at the Olympics in Paris, running 10.13 in the heats and 10.14 in the semifinals.
Torrie Lewis, Australia 🇦🇺
100m, 200m and 4x100m
At the age of 19, Australia’s Torrie Lewis is already a senior national record-holder and is Oceania’s fastest ever women’s U20 100m sprinter.
She made her senior international debut at last year’s World Championships in Budapest, where she contested the 100m and 4x100m.
Torrie Lewis in 200m action in Paris (© Dan Vernon)
Since then she has become a Wanda Diamond League meeting winner as she claimed 200m victory at the event in Xiamen in April, clocking 22.96. She also won the Oceanian 200m title in June and then reached the semifinals at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. After winning her heat in Paris in a PB of 22.89, she won her repechage round race and then clocked 22.92 in the semifinals before returning to the track for the 4x100m heats.
Lurdes Gloria Manuel, Czechia 🇨🇿
400m and 4x400m
After finishing second in the 400m at the European U18 Championships in 2022 and winning the European U20 title in 2023, Czechia’s Lurdes Gloria Manuel finished fourth on the senior stage, running a national U20 record of 50.52 at the European Championships in Rome in June.
Lurdes Gloria Manuel in the 400m at the Paris Olympics (© AFP / Getty Images)
She made her senior international debut at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow in March, forming part of the 4x400m, and then lined up at the Olympics in her individual event.
She reached the semifinals in Paris, running 52.20 in her heat, 50.81 in her repechage race and 51.42 in her semifinal. The PB she ran in Rome places her second on this season’s world U20 top list.
Bradley Nkoana, South Africa 🇿🇦
100m and 4x100m
When Bradley Nkoana takes to the track in Lima, he’ll hope to follow in the footsteps of his compatriot Benjamin Richardson, who claimed world U20 100m silver in 2021 and anchored South Africa to 4x100m victory in a world U20 record, before claiming 100m bronze in 2022.
Bradley Nkoana celebrates after helping South Africa to 4x100m silver in Paris (© AFP / Getty Images)
Both 19-year-old Nkoana and 20-year-old Richardson were part of their nation’s relay pool at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and Nkoana stepped up when Richardson was injured in the 200m.
He joined his fellow teenager Bayanda Walaza, Shaun Maswanganyi and Akani Simbine to secure 4x100m silver in Paris and so heads to Lima – where he will make his World U20 Championships debut – as an Olympic medallist.
His 100m PB of 10.03 is a national U20 record that puts him second on this season’s world U20 top list.
Alana Reid, Jamaica 🇯🇲
100m and 4x100m
Jamaica’s Alana Reid will head to Lima looking to build on the bronze medal she claimed in the 200m two years ago. At the World U20 Championships in Cali, the then 17-year-old ran 22.95 in a race won by her compatriot Brianna Lyston.
Alana Reid prepares for the 4x100m in Paris (© Getty Images)
She has made even bigger strides in the 100m since and ran a PB of 10.92 – a national U20 record – in March 2023. That puts her sixth on the world U20 all-time list.
So far this year she has a best of 11.09, a world U20 lead.
In Paris she formed part of the 4x100m squad and ran in the heats and final, where she teamed up with Kemba Nelson, Shashalee Forbes and Tia Clayton to finish fifth.
