Tomas Jarvinen celebrates his world U20 decathlon win in Lima (© Christel Saneh for World Athletics)
A championship record of 8425 points in the decathlon by Czechia’s Tomas Jarvinen and a huge leap of 8.17m by Croatia’s Roko Farkas to win the long jump were among the highlights on the fourth evening of action at the World Athletics U20 Championships Lima 24 on Friday (30).
Jarvinen went into day two of the decathlon in a dominant position and the 18-year-old kept the momentum rolling, clocking 13.78 in the 110m hurdles followed by a huge PB of 49.18m in the discus, a 4.60m clearance in the pole vault, a 55.79m javelin throw and another big PB of 4:29.78 in the 1500m.
Poland’s Hubert Trosciaka produced a PB of 8230 to win silver, featuring three personal bests in the 400m (47.24), 1500m (4:24.41) and long jump (7.27m). Dutch athlete Florian Vriezen claimed bronze with a PB of 8230.
Jarvinen was just 10 points shy of Niklas Kaul’s world U20 record and he moved to second on the world U20 all-time list after a remarkable two days where he produced the best marks in five of the 10 disciplines and led the field every step of the way.
“I am completely shocked,” said Jarvinen. “I know I did my best on two days. The event I like the most is probably the discus throw and the least is probably the 100m. For the next year, I will try to get to the World Championships.”
A decathlete also stole the show in the men’s long jump final. Unable to contest the decathlon this season because of a shoulder injury, Farkas focused on the 200m for the European Championships in Rome and the long jump for Lima.
The big question on Friday was whether Farkas could live up to his heroics in long jump qualification, where he obliterated his PB to jump 8.15m. For much of the final, it appeared he couldn’t, managing a best of 7.81m through the opening three rounds. But then in round four, with the benefit of a 2.4m/s tailwind, he soared to 8.17m, the longest winning jump in the championships’ history, which was comfortably good enough for gold.
Silver went to Serbia’s Luka Boskovic with 7.93m while Australia’s Mason McGroder set a PB of 7.80m to take bronze.
“I was really happy after the qualifications but we have been really, really working for this competition for long jump and I just went for it,” said Farkas, who had done a training camp in Chile to prepare. “I'm technically a decathlete so it was a bit challenging to switch to long jump for this competition but we made it.”
The women’s javelin final featured the most dominant victory of the championships to date, China’s Yan Ziyi unleashing a 63.05m throw in the fourth round to take gold by almost nine metres, with Chinese Taipei’s Chu Pin-Hsun taking silver with 54.28m ahead of USA’s Evelyn Bliss (54.01m).
Yan threw 64.28m in Hangzhou in April to set the world U20 record and the 16-year-old underlined her vast potential with the first javelin gold medal for China at these championships, which is unlikely to be her last given she will be eligible for the 2026 edition in Oregon.
“I had an injury for the last three months but today I got a good result and a gold medal,” said Yan. “I am a little sad because I (missed) the championship record, but I'm young and I can try again in two years.”
Javelin winner Yan Ziyi at the World Athletics U20 Championships Lima 24 (© Christel Saneh for World Athletics)
The men’s pole vault turned into a riveting head-to-head duel between Germany’s Hendrik Muller and Japan’s Rikuya Yoshida, with Muller snatching victory with his third-time clearance at 5.45m. He is the first German to win this title since Raphael Holzdeppe in 2008. Yoshida earned a superb silver via his PB of 5.40m, with Czechia’s Jan Krcek also setting a PB for bronze with 5.30m.
In the men’s high jump, USA’s Scottie Vines soared to new heights – literally – by winning the world U20 title and setting a PB of 2.25m. He had a perfect record up until 2.23m and he was then locked in a battle with Italy’s Matteo Sioli for gold. Both went over 2.23m at the third attempt and a first-time clearance of 2.25m by Vines handed him gold, with Sioli settling for a PB and silver. Japan’s Kaisei Nakatani took bronze with a best of 2.19m.
The women’s shot put final saw USA’s Akaoma Odeluga live up to her favourite’s billing as she took a commanding victory with a best of 17.34m, which came in the fourth round. She had a shaky start to the competition with a best of 15.85m through the opening three rounds, well down on the PB of 18.13m she set to finish eighth at the US Olympic Trials.
But her 17.34m put the competition to bed, handing her victory by almost a metre over Czechia’s Martina Mazurova, who set a PB of 16.38m for silver, while Chiang Ching-Yuan of Chinese Taipei claimed bronze with a national U20 record of 16.01m.
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics
