Tate Taylor on his way to the world U20 100m title in Oregon (© Getty Images)
A packed day four awaits at the World Athletics U20 Championships Oregon 26, with 13 titles set to be decided across the track and field. Here are three things to look out for on Saturday.
Race walks make an early start
The first finals of the day start bright and early, with the women’s 5000m race walk at 9:30 followed by the men’s event at 10:10.
For the first time in World U20 Championships history, both race walks will be contested over 5000m, replacing the 10,000m distance used at previous editions.
Italy’s Serena Di Fabio leads the women’s entries with a world U20-leading 20:42.74, the only sub-21-minute performance in the field. But she will face strong opposition from Yang Yutong, who finished 10 seconds ahead of Di Fabio to win the U20 race at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Brasilia earlier this year.
France’s Chloe Le Roch and Tunisia’s Imen Saii are also among the leading contenders, along with Yang’s Chinese teammate Sun Xiaoxue.
India’s Nitin Gupta heads the men’s entries after clocking a world U20 best of 18:54.37 in Bengaluru in April. But China’s Pu Huajia will be another major threat after his dominant victory at the World Race Walking Team Championships, where he won the U20 race by 49 seconds.
Australia’s Isaac Beacroft, winner of the U20 race at the 2024 World Race Walking Team Championships, arrives in Eugene fresh from winning the Commonwealth 10,000m race walk title in Glasgow. Peru’s José Duvan Ccoscco Sueldo, Italy’s Alessio Coppola and 2024 world U20 silver medallist Emiliano Barba of Mexico are among the other athletes to watch.
WU20 Oregon 26 race walks preview
Sprints return to centre stage
The 200m finals will be among the last races of day four, with some familiar faces returning to the Hayward Field start line.
Tate Taylor, the 100m winner here in Oregon, will start as favourite for the men’s title after running 19.75 at the Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field last month, beating Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo and moving to third on the world U20 all-time list.
Taylor was fastest in Friday’s semi-finals with 20.34, while fellow US sprinter Blake Hamilton ran 20.38 to advance. Jayden Green clocked 20.46 to become just the second Barbadian athlete to reach a world U20 200m final, while Trinidad and Tobago’s Makaelan Isiah Randall Woods set a PB of 20.47.
Jamaica’s Gary Card also advanced, setting up another head-to-head between the gold and silver medallists from the 100m.
In the women’s 200m, Jamaican sprinter Shanoya Douglas will look to improve on the bronze medal she won in Lima two years ago. The world U20 leader, who claimed 100m silver earlier this week, was fastest in the semi-finals with 22.53.
Mia Maxwell, the 100m champion earlier in the week, will aim to complete a sprint double, with her twin sister Mariah also advancing to the final. Jamaica’s Sashana Johnson set a PB of 22.92 in her semi-final, while Italy’s Margherita Castellani improved her national U20 record to 22.99.
Antigua and Barbuda’s Tyra Fenton also booked her place in the final, clocking 23.25.
WU20 Oregon 26 sprint events preview
Relay action heats up
The mixed 4x100m final will crown its first world U20 champion on Saturday, while the men’s and women’s events get under way with their opening rounds.
When the mixed 4x100m made its World U20 Championships debut on Thursday, Australia set the first world U20 record with 41.64 in the opening heat. The mark lasted only a matter of minutes before Great Britain and Northern Ireland lowered it to 41.60 in the second heat.
Italy also impressed with 41.74, while the USA ran 41.82 and Nigeria clocked 41.91. With little separating the leading teams, the first world U20 mixed 4x100m title remains wide open ahead of Saturday’s final at 18:05.
The men’s 4x100m heats should be equally competitive, with Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Australia, Jamaica, China, Trinidad and Tobago and the USA among the teams to watch.
Switzerland heads into the women’s 4x100m with the fastest mark among the entered teams this year, having clocked 43.32. Jamaica have run 43.76 and Germany 43.92, making them the other two teams in the field to have broken 44 seconds this season.
Colin Ernst for the World Athletics Media Academy
