Polish hammer thrower Jan Delewski (© Getty Images)
Some of the world’s premiere young throwers will compete for medals when the World Athletics U20 Championships Oregon 26 takes place at Hayward Field from 5-9 August.
Here we take a look at the men’s and women’s shot put, discus, hammer throw and javelin.
Men’s shot put
After setting a personal best of 20.97m to win the US U20 title in June, Omar Hussein returns to Eugene looking to take gold under the Hayward Field lights for the second time this season.
The 19-year-old leads an entry list with five athletes that have surpassed the 20-metre mark this year.
Right behind Hussein is Korea’s Park Si-hoon who set an Asian U20 record of 20.65m when winning the Asian U20 title in May.
Joining them at the top of the entry list is Aristion Anastasios Papadopoulos who earned gold at the Greek U20 Championships with a throw of 20.45m. Alessandro Borges is also in the mix with a personal best of 20.29m set when winning the Brazilian U20 title. NACAC U18 champion Jayden Walcott of Barbados is the youngest of the top five at the age of 17 and he already has a personal best of 20.19m, a national U20 record.
Women’s shot put
Nigeria’s Jessica Oji will look to take home the gold after earning a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games at the end of last month with a throw of 17.87m in Glasgow, Scotland. The 19-year-old broke the African record with 18.50m indoors in March, making her the only athlete in this contest to have surpassed 18 metres.
Ecuador’s Belsy Jennifer Quiñonez and Belgium’s Nafy Thiam are also in the medal mix, being the only other competitors to reach 17 metres with bests of 17.75m and 17.30m, respectively.
Germany’s Emily Scherf set a PB of 16.98m in June and USA’s Jaslene Massey threw a PB of 16.88m to win one of her two US U20 titles that same month. They will both seek to break the 17-metre threshold in Eugene, Massey back at the scene of her national U20 discus and shot put double.
Men’s discus
Jamaica’s NACAC U23 champion Joseph Richard Salmon will be difficult to beat if he can get close to the mark of 67.55m that he achieved to break the area U20 record in March. No other athlete is within four metres of the 19-year-old, who is looking to hand his country its third world U20 discus title.
If Salmon is at his best, he is likely in line for gold, but there could be a close battle for the other podium places. Estonia’s Sten-Erik Iir and Poland’s Jakub Rodziak have both surpassed 63 metres this year with 63.41m and 63.28m, respectively.
Also in the mix is Ukraine’s Yaroslav Lystopad, who threw a PB of 62.68m to win his national U20 title, and USA’s Simon Rosselli, whose PB 62.67m throw won him the US U20 title in Eugene in June.
Women’s discus
Jaslene Massey, a future student at the University of Oregon, has spent the summer making Hayward Field her home, throwing 60.27m to win the US U20 title there in June. She will be looking to continue her winning streak in Eugene.
China’s Su Yixin is the only athlete within a metre of Massey following her 59.44m PB in May. Another metre behind her is Cuba’s Neilyn de la C Rodriguez whose best of 58.45m put her a single centimetre ahead of her compatriot Liaris C Sotolongo when they competed in Havana in February. They clash again in Oregon. Also in the mix is USA’s Jillian Scully who threw a PB of 57.25m in April.
Men’s hammer
In an event featuring three athletes to have broken the 77-metre mark this year, Poland’s Jan Delewski leads the field with the 77.57m PB that he set in June. Right behind him is 18-year-old Chen Jiawei, who threw a PB of 77.50m when winning his national U20 title. Also in the 77-metre club is Alexandros Ghamrawi who set a PB of 77.23m in May and will want to retain the title for Cyprus after his compatriot Iosif Kesidis’ win in Lima in 2024.
Also in the running is Greece’s 17-year-old Sotirios Gentekos who is the only other entrant with a PB beyond 75 metres. Qatar's Ibrahim Abdelrahman will want to maintain the momentum after setting a PB of 73.91m in May
Women’s hammer
Finland’s Pinja Kärhä is looking to become the first Finnish hammer thrower to win this title since Silja Kosonen won in 2021. Her PB of 70.73m that she set in June leads the field by nearly a metre.
Her closest challenger looks to be Germany’s Clara Hegemann, who won European U18 gold in 2024 and has a PB this year of 69.81m, a national U20 record.
Also competing for medals will be Burklie Burton, who threw 67.99m in May and won the US U20 title at Hayward Field in June, and China’s Chen Jiajun, whose PB of 67.42m makes her the fourth member of the 67-metre club among the entries.
Germany’s Nova Kienast is also in the running. She has a best this year of 64.87m but set a PB of 68.54m last year and returns to the World U20 Championships stage after finishing fifth in Lima two years ago. She won the European U20 title the following year. Ukraine’s 17-year-old Polina Dzerozhynska finished one place ahead of Kienast in Lima and also returns after setting a PB of 65.67m in May.
Men’s javelin
Jan-Hendrik Heymans grew up playing cricket, transitioned to javelin throwing at the age of 12, and is now the favourite to win the world U20 title. After setting a PB of 77.14m to win the South African U20 title, Heymans leads the field by more than two metres.
Behind Heymans is Uzbekistan’s 17-year-old Ruslan Sadullaev, the only other competitor in the field to have broken the 75-metre mark with a PB of 75.01m that he set in May to win gold at the Asian U20 Championships.
Also in the mix are Nolan Carey, who threw a PB of 74.72m in May before winning the US U20 title in Eugene, and India’s Ashish Yadav, who threw a PB of 74.49m in March. Korea’s Jang Ha-jin has also surpassed 74 metres with 74.14m in April.
Women’s javelin
Egypt’s Aseel Osama Abdel Hamid arrives in Eugene after breaking the area U20 record to win the African title with a PB of 60.97m in May.
She will be challenged by Croatia’s Vita Barbić who will be on the hunt for a medal when she returns to the World U20 Championships two years on from finishing fourth in Lima. The European U20 champion recently improved her PB to a national U20 record of 60.71m to win at the Croatian Championships.
If Abdel Hamid and Barbić are near top form there will be a tight competition for the final podium position. Chinese Taipei’s Tai Yu-Chin set a national U20 record of 56.91m in May, while the US duo of Sophia Mazzoni and Emily Harbach are separated by just four centimetres as they have set respective PBs of 56.51m and 56.47m this year.
Owen Bogert for the World Athletics Media Academy
