Youth Olympic Games

100 Metres

200 Metres

400 Metres

800 Metres

1500 Metres

3000 Metres

2000 Metres Steeplechase

2000 Metres Steeplechase (84cm)

110m Hurdles (91.4cm)

100m Hurdles (76.2cm)

400 Metres Hurdles

400m hurdles (84.0cm)

High Jump

Pole Vault

Long Jump

Triple Jump

Shot Put (5kg)

Shot Put (3kg)

Discus Throw

Discus Throw (1.500kg)

Hammer Throw (5kg)

Hammer Throw (3kg)

Javelin Throw (700g)

Javelin Throw (500g)

5000 Metres Race Walk

Abdelaziz Mohamed of Qatar winning the Youth Olympic Games 200m title

Thierry Baptiste of France, 2018 Youth Olympic Games pole vault champion

Haruto Deguchi, Youth Olympic Games 400m hurdles winner

<p>Announcing has always been a passion of Donald Smith&rsquo;s.</p>
<p>&ldquo;In my spare time, if anyone listened, I&rsquo;d just be practicing commentary, whether track and field, football, cricket. That was just fun for me,&rdquo; explains Smith, 31. &ldquo;It was something I wanted to do, something that I loved, so eventually I thought an opportunity would come.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In July, the Jamaican woke one morning to find several friends had tagged him in a tweet inviting entries for the IAAF&rsquo;s announcer competition for the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018. &ldquo;Right up my alley,&rdquo; he thought.</p>
<p>Smith, who works full time as an information systems auditor at an accountancy firm, is not one to waste an opportunity. His first forays into stadium announcing came in 2010, while he was working as a field marshal at a college meet in Jamaica.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I heard the announcing, and I was like, I know I can do that!&rdquo; he recalls. He stayed in touch with some of the organisers, who knew his passion, and was eventually invited to announce at a low-key sports day at the same university. People were impressed. &ldquo;Little did I know it, but there was some talk within the athletics circle that there was a new announcer coming up.&rdquo;</p>
<p>A shift at a prep school meet soon followed, and within a couple of years he was on the announcing team for Champs &ndash; the most high profile inter-schools meeting in world sport. Since then, he has held the mic at the Kingston World Challenge, Racers Grand Prix and senior and junior national championships, making Smith&rsquo;s a recognisable voice on public address systems across Jamaica.</p>
<h3>Next stop: world</h3>
<p>The IAAF competition &ndash; requiring entrants to commentate on either Felix Sanchez&rsquo;s gold medal run at the London 2012 Olympics, or Fabian Murer&rsquo;s world title-winning clearance in Daegu in 2011 &ndash; was Smith&rsquo;s break out opportunity.</p>
<p>&ldquo;My love for track and field in general pushed me to think, &lsquo;This is my chance, my opportunity to do something bigger than what I have been doing&rsquo;,&rdquo; he says. He chose the Sanchez race, believing &ldquo;it was something I thought I could add my voice to&rdquo;, but remembering &ndash; crucially &ndash; that &ldquo;any information that I knew after race, I couldn&rsquo;t factor that: it had to be like I was there.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Smith was on to a winner. A track nut who can wax on athletics history like the best of them, his assured performance with the mic saw him selected as the winner from the hundreds of entries that flooded in, including from former stars of the sport.<br /><br /></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">I am Donald Smith of Jamaica and this is my take on the Men's 400mH Final at the 2012 London Olympic Games. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IAAFvoiceofYOG?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IAAFvoiceofYOG</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/iaaforg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@iaaforg</a> <a href="https://t.co/q92MoelezY">pic.twitter.com/q92MoelezY</a></p>
&mdash; Donald Smith (@dpos_smith) <a href="https://twitter.com/dpos_smith/status/1028463678033747968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<p><br />&ldquo;For once I really had no words to describe how I felt!&rdquo; he says of winning. Booking the time off work was easy. &ldquo;My boss is a good man. He knows that I love this. And when I told him about the opportunity he said, &lsquo;You&rsquo;re going, right?!&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
<p>His friends &ndash; the ones who had had to put up with the incessant commentary of every sporting event they attended with Smith &ndash; were equally supportive, as has been the wider online athletics community.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It has been great,&rdquo; he says. As a matter of fact a lot have reached out, giving pointers, encouragement, go out there relax and be myself. Just be me. That encouragement has been great. It hasn&rsquo;t just been immediate friends &ndash; people from all over the world have reached out and said congratulations.&rdquo;</p>
<h3>The dream and the team</h3>
<p>In Buenos Aires, Smith found that there was a significant step up from the meets where he&rsquo;d cut his teeth. The role at a championship meet is not simply to announce, but to function as a vital cog in a two-dozen production team that holds each session together. He also found himself sharing a room with Argentinians, Germans, Greeks, Chinese, Britons &ndash; any pronunciation slip-ups would be pounced upon. However difficult, the support of the team enabled him to move up with little difficulty.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It is a team effort,&rdquo; he insists. &ldquo;You will have seen at the end of today, the applause, the high fives, because we had a good day and everyone made it happen. So that is fantastic.&rdquo;<br /><br /></p>
<hr />
<h3>Donald&rsquo;s top three announcing tips</h3>
<p><strong>1.</strong> Plan and research. You&rsquo;ve got to be ready at all times.</p>
<p><strong>2.</strong> Learn how to take constructive criticism, and how to use that to improve what to do.</p>
<p><strong>3.</strong> Never be too hard on yourself. You&rsquo;ll have good days, you&rsquo;ll have not so good days. It&rsquo;s how you recover from those not-so-good ones that will help you be a better professional, whatever you do.</p>
<hr />
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Smith says he tried to replicate the style of the pros he most admires. &ldquo;Steve Cram is one [hero],&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Katherine Merry, I love her voice. In Jamaica we have Bobby Fray &ndash; his brother is an Olympian from the 60s, Michael Fray.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I like their voices and how they capture the audience. It can be on TV, and I&rsquo;ll be in another room &ndash; or I&rsquo;ll be listening on the radio &ndash; and they&rsquo;ll still capture what is happening. That is what I try to do. Hopefully I&rsquo;m on the right track.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The track has already taken Smith to the Olympic stage, if only a developmental level. His dreams are no less lofty: &ldquo;Olympic announcer. Definitely. World Championships, Olympics. That&rsquo;s the aim.&rdquo;</p>
<p>His profile has been given a welcome bump by his competition win and confident delivery in Buenos Aires. But it&rsquo;s just the start for Smith, who hopes to take his voice to the world.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I know that I&rsquo;m going to do well, and get where I want,&rdquo; he adds. &ldquo;I still have to be humble and understand that there are a lot of people looking up to me to be the best that I can be. I can&rsquo;t disappoint them.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>Thomas Byrne for the IAAF</strong></p>

Announcing has always been a passion of Donald Smith’s.

Donald Smith: new voice on the block

<p>Form played out on the final day of athletics at the <strong>Youth Olympic Games</strong> on Tuesday (16), as nine of the 11 stage one winners wrapped up gold medals in Buenos Aires&rsquo; final session of athletics.</p>
<p>The only change in overall leaders came in the men&rsquo;s pole vault, where Thierry Baptiste &ndash; third after the first stage &ndash; set a Games record and personal best 5.32m with his final effort at the height.</p>
<p>&ldquo;That was huge for me,&rdquo; said Baptiste. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a long, hard season, so to get a personal best, a gold medal and to see my name up there is incredible.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Japan's Kazuki Furusawa also cleared a lifetime best mark (5.22m) to ensure he remained in second place overall and collect the silver. Authorised Neutral Athlete Dmitry Kachanov had an off day. He had set the Games record of 5.20m in the first stage, but could only get over 5.12m today and won bronze.</p>
<p>The other switch up came in the men&rsquo;s javelin, as Finnish thrower Topias Laine dealt with the headwind impressively to record a personal best of 78.85m and move from third position to the top of the podium. Argentina&rsquo;s Gustavo Agustin Osorio was only fifth on the day with 74.25m, just holding the silver medal position over Czech Florian Martin, who produced a personal best of 76.24m. The gap between silver and bronze was just 4cm.</p>
<h3>Two-stage golds for Qatari hopes</h3>
<p>The future looks bright for Qatari athletics, with less than 12 months until the World Championships head to Doha.</p>
<p>In the men&rsquo;s 200m, Abdelaziz Mohamed recorded a second personal best and second win of the Games to collect gold. A relaxed runner, he was smooth off the bend and won with clear daylight in 20.68.</p>
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Abdelaziz Mohamed of Qatar winning the Youth Olympic Games 200m title</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Wow. I am magic,&rdquo; the 16-year-old said post race. Of next year&rsquo;s home world champs, he added: &ldquo;I want to win!&rdquo; That <em>would</em> be magical.</p>
<p>There was a second Qatari gold in the men&rsquo;s 110m hurdles, as Owaab Barrow recorded a PB of 13.17 for his second stage win. The top seven all got lifetime bests, but the medals went according to finishing position: France&rsquo;s Kenny Fletcher (13.25) won silver, and Hong Kong&rsquo;s Lok Hei Addis Wong (13.39) won bronze.</p>
<p>There were personal bests for the top three in the women&rsquo;s 200m. Iceland&rsquo;s Gudbjorg Jona Bjarnadottir (23.47) was pipped by Italian Dalia Kaddari (23.45) in the race, but her margin of victory in the first round was such that she still had a good cushion in gold medal position.</p>
<p>&ldquo;This was a goal of mine for a long time,&rdquo; said the European U18 100m champion. &ldquo;I only had four days off after Hungary. Now I&rsquo;m going to eat McDonald&rsquo;s.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Kaddari was rewarded with the silver, swapping places with Brazil&rsquo;s Leticia Maria Nonato Lima, who clocked 23.71 for bronze.</p>
<p>Colombia&rsquo;s first athletics gold medal of the week was secured by Valeria Cabezas Caracas in the women&rsquo;s 400m hurdles. She had led after the first stage and, in the second, never looked troubled. Her main challenger, Brazil&rsquo;s Jessica Vitoria de Oliveira Moreira, was a stride behind coming into the straight and fell at the final hurdle, allowing Caracas to cruise through in 58.39. Loubna Benhadja, of Algeria, profited from de Oliveria Moreira&rsquo;s fall, clocking 59.70 for second and silver, moving up from sixth overall. Spain&rsquo;s Carla Garcia clocked 59.92 to finish fifth and remain in third for bronze.</p>
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Haruto Deguchi, Youth Olympic Games 400m hurdles winner</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In the first stage of the men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles, Haruto Deguchi scored a surprise by bagging the fastest time of 51.40, a PB. With the focus on him for the second stage, the Japanese did no disappoint. So strong over the hurdles through the final third, he clocked another personal best 51.28 for gold via a classy two-stage win. His combined time advantage over silver medallist, Daniel Huller, was more than a second, the Hungarian recording a PB of his own (51.86) to move up from third. Saudi Arabia&rsquo;s Hohammed Duhaim Almuawi was fourth through the line, enough to squeeze bronze by a combined 0.04 seconds ahead of Frenchman Martin Fraysse.</p>
<h3>Diaz doubles up for gold</h3>
<p>It wasn&rsquo;t a classic performance from Jordan Diaz, but the Cuban still did enough to win triple jump gold by going out to 17.04m in round one, his sole legal mark. A gusty tailwind perhaps played a part in his missing the board, but no one could take advantage behind the world U18 and U20 champion, who had set a Games record 17.14m in the opening stage.</p>
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Jordan Diaz in action at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Yahor Chuiko (15.96m) was closest to him on the day, although the Bulgarian missed a medal. Nigeria&rsquo;s Ineh Emmeanuel Oritsemeyiwa (15.51m) and India&rsquo;s Praveen Chithravel (15.68m) did enough to carry their respective second and third place finishes from the opening stage through to the podium.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The top three remained unchanged after the conclusion of the women&rsquo;s triple jump, which was won by Bulgaria&rsquo;s Aleksandra Nacheva with 13.86m, a 10cm improvement on her first stage mark. Spain&rsquo;s Maria Vicente was 10cm back on her first stage performance with 13.67, still earning silver, while authorized neutral athlete Mariya Privalova carried her bronze medal position through with consistency (13.04 and 13.03m).</p>
<p>Greek thrower Elina Tzengo had set a Games record (63.34m) in the first stage of the women&rsquo;s javelin, but, throwing into the wind, was unable to reproduce that sort of mark in the concluder. She remained dominant on the day, winning outright with 61.74m. Ecuador&rsquo;s Juleisy Angulo clung onto silver medal despite only producing 55.21m for fourth in the second stage, while bronze went to Munevver Hanchi, who carried her position through with 57.06m.</p>
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Ricuo Xi en route to her commanding 5000m race walk victory at the Youth Olympic Games</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>A second stage win for Ricuo Xi wrapped up the 5000m race walk gold. The Chinese athlete set the world lead (22:23.26) for a teenager in the opener, allowing her to relax today knowing a win &ndash; regardless of the time &ndash; would secure gold. That&rsquo;s exactly what she did, picking her moment to break late and clock 22:40.23.</p>
<p>The minor medal positions remained unchanged from the first stage, too, as silver went to Sofia Elizabeth Ramos Rodriguez, of Mexico, while Olga Fiaska won bronze.</p>
<p><strong>Thomas Byrne for the IAAF</strong></p>

Form played out on the final day of athletics at the Youth Olympic Games on Tuesday (16), as nine of the 11 stage one winners wrapped up gold medals in Buenos Aires’ final session of athletics.

Games record and gold for late show Baptiste in Buenos Aires

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<p>Watch all of the athletics action from the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games via the official live stream.</p>
<p>Provided by The Olympic Channel, the live stream will cover all six days of athletics from the Argentinean capital and will be active during the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.iaaf.org/competitions/youth-olympic-games/3rd-youth-olympic-games-6338/timetable/byday" target="_blank" rel="noopener">competition sessions</a></strong></span>.</p>
<p>There will be daily reports and pictures on the IAAF website with further updates on the IAAF's social media channels.</p>
<p><strong>IAAF</strong></p>

Watch all of the athletics action from the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games via the official live stream.

Watch athletics action from the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games

<p>After a 94-year hiatus, cross country returned to the Olympic arena on Monday (15) at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games.</p>
<p>It was worth the wait, as Kenya&rsquo;s Jackson Muema out-duelled Ethiopia&rsquo;s Berihu Aregawi in the boys&rsquo; race, while in the girls&rsquo; event, Uganda&rsquo;s Sarah Chelangat reeled early-spurting Edinah Jebitok of Kenya to break the tape.</p>
<p>The morning 4km races represented the second stage of the 1500m, 3000m and 2000m steeplechase, with combined rankings determining the individual medallists.</p>
<p>Muema&rsquo;s one-second stage win over Aregawi was crucial. Uganda&rsquo;s Oscar Chelimo came home third, reversing the top three from the track 3000m last week. It left the three athletes finished tied on four points, meaning the cross country finishes decided the medals. And so it was that Kenyan Muema clinched the gold ahead of Ethiopia&rsquo;s Aregawi, while Chelimo took bronze.</p>
<p>It was the same story for deciding the men's 1500m medallists, as once again the top three were reversed to leave a three-way, four-point tie. But the gold was Jean de Dieu Butoyi's, the Burundian the first home of the metric milers to move up from third after last week&rsquo;s track race. Morocco's Anass Essayi retained his silver medal position, while Ethiopia's Melese Nberet ended with the bronze after a gallant seventh-place overall finish.<br /><br /></p>
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Sarah Chelangat wins the cross-country race at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>As for Chelangat, the win confirmed the Ugandan as the gold medallist for the women&rsquo;s 3000m, the first stage of which she had won on the track last Thursday. There was no movement in the medal places behind her, either, as Kenya&rsquo;s Mercy Chepkorir came home fourth overall and second of the 3000m runners for silver, while Ethiopia&rsquo;s Aberash Minsewo crossed sixth, third in her discipline, to wrap up bronze.</p>
<p>While Jebitok couldn&rsquo;t hold on for the cross country win, her bold running was rewarded with that second-place finish, and meant the Kenyan clinched the 1500m gold after running fastest on the track last Friday.</p>
<p>Australia&rsquo;s Jaylah Hancock-Cameron, second on the track, was the fourth home of the athletes in her event. It meant she retained her silver medal position by a single point ahead of Lemlem Hailu, who tied on points with Japan's Yuki Kanemitsu, but clinched bronze thanks to finishing second of the 1500m runners.</p>
<p>There was no change in the top three in the women&rsquo;s steeplechase standings, as Fancy Cherono of Kenya came through third overall for her second stage win to secure the gold. Ethiopia&rsquo;s Mekides Abebe was 11th overall, third of the steeplechasers, to get silver; Sri Lanka&rsquo;s Parami Wasanthi Maristela&rsquo;s carried her bronze medal position through to the finish, finishing fourth in her event and 17th overall on the turf.</p>
<p>Abrham Sime also claimed his second stage win, coming home ninth overall, to clinch the men&rsquo;s steeplechase gold for Ethiopia. The medal excitement in that event took place mid-pack, as France&rsquo;s Baptiste Guyon toiled fruitfully, finishing 11th overall to come home as the second placed steeplechaser, enough to move from sixth to earn silver. Fifth place track man Abel Yamane of Eritrea was the third steeplechaser through, meaning he took bronze.</p>
<p>Complex? Sure. But that mattered little to the thousands who lined the tight, twisting 800-metre loop squeezed in the centre of Youth Olympic Park. This nostalgic innovation delivered two fantastic races. The spectators&rsquo; vociferous verdict: a hit.</p>
<h3>Chukwuma and Davids unleash speed for Youth Olympic sprint titles</h3>
<p>Sprinters like it hot, and with the temperature dial budging 30C at Youth Olympic Park, both the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s 100m races saw the champions crowned with top times, even though the tailwind scuppered their record eligibility.</p>
<p>You have to admire Rosemary Chukwuma&rsquo;s nerves. Coming into the second stage of the women&rsquo;s short sprint third overall, the Nigerian &ndash; who entered the Games as the fastest in the field &ndash; was trailing through the first 50 metres of the women&rsquo;s 100m. The pressure didn&rsquo;t show, as she held her top end speed the best to edge away and win in 11.17, a time that would have been a Games record were it not for the 3.3m/s wind.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I had to do it!&rdquo; said a relieved Chukwuma. &ldquo;My people were watching and they had told me I had to win, because Nigeria had not won any medals. Thank God I did.&rdquo;</p>
<p>St Lucia&rsquo;s Julien Alfred crossed second in 11.23 to retain her silver medal position, missing gold by just 0.02. Ecuador&rsquo;s Gabriela Suarez was third in 11.29, dropping from first, but still earning bronze.<br /><br /></p>
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Luke Davids wins the 100m at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The top three remained unaltered from stage one in the men&rsquo;s 100m, as South Africa&rsquo;s Luke Davids sealed gold with the win in 10.15 (3.4m/s) &ndash; again inside the previous Games record, but again not eligible for the books.</p>
<p>Fastest in the rain last week, he was swiftest in the sun, as he held off the mid-section charge of Nigeria&rsquo;s Alaba Olukunle Akintola, pumping his chest in celebration as he crossed the line.</p>
<p>&ldquo;All the hard work, those early nights, the sacrifice was worth it!&rdquo; beamed Davids. Akintola was pleased with silver, offering buoyant congratulations to the winner. The more demure Seiryo Ikeda earned bronze for Japan with a 10.82 clocking.</p>
<p>Oscar Patin collected the gold in the men&rsquo;s 5000m race walk. The Ecuadorian led after the first stage, and though he crossed third in today&rsquo;s race in 20:38.17, he moved to second following the disqualification of initial winner Xin Wang for a lane infringement. Suraj Panwar was therefore given the stage win, meaning silver for the Indian after finishing second last Thursday. Puerto Rico&rsquo;s Jan Moreu finished third and earned bronze.</p>
<p>Tasew Yada wrapped up 800m gold courtesy of his two-stage win. The Ethiopian, the fastest in Friday's opener, again showed fine closing speed to stop the clock in 1:50.38. Despite finishing sixth on the day, Algeria&rsquo;s Mohamed Ali Gouaned stayed close enough by time (1:51.66) to earn silver after he had finished second overall in the opening stage. Mehmet Celik of Turkey finished second in 1:51.66 to remain in third position overall and collect bronze.</p>
<h3>Hot shot Nazareno secures home gold</h3>
<p>Argentina&rsquo;s Nazareno Sasia got the biggest cheer of the day after his shot put gold medal was confirmed. As in the first stage, he was in imperious form. An unfussy thrower, he sent three of his four efforts beyond the 21-metre line, topping out with 21.25m.</p>
<p>&ldquo;My throw in the first stage was better, but today was still a beautiful competition,&rdquo; said the most in-demand man in the media area.<br /><br /></p>
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Nazareno Sasia of Argentina competes in boys shot put at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>China&rsquo;s Xing Jialiang finished with the silver medal after unleashing a personal best of 20.89m in round three to move up from third. Italy's Carmelo Alessandro Musci (20.76m) improved by 10 centimetres on his first-round result to move from fourth to grab bronze.</p>
<p>There was gold for China in the women&rsquo;s shot put, as the U18 world leader Li Xinhui retained her No.1 position from the first stage with a best of 18.33m. Yelizaveta Dorts of Belarus held out in silver medal position with 17.53m, while South Africa&rsquo;s Dane Roets claimed bronze with 17.34m.</p>
<p>Lester Alcides Lescay Gay upheld Cuba&rsquo;s strong jumping pedigree by leapfrogging Joshua Cowley to nab long jump gold. Australia&rsquo;s Cowley had led after the first stage with 7.71m, and although he improved on that mark with a wind-legal PB of 7.82m, he couldn&rsquo;t respond after Gay flew out to 7.89m (4.3m/s) to win by a single centimetre in the combined standings. Japan&rsquo;s Wada Joki bumped from fourth to bronze after a last-round 7.66m (2.8m/s).</p>
<h3>Golden hat-trick for Ukraine as high jump record falls</h3>
<p>Yaroslava Mahuchikh scored her second Games record of the week on her way to winning high jump gold. The Ukrainian cleared first time up to a personal best 1.95m for a convincing win over neutral athlete Mariya Kochanova, who cleared a PB of 1.87m. Elizabeth Moss bagged bronze ahead of Jessica Kahara, the Australian clearing first time at 1.82m to see off the Finn, who made the height at the second attempt.<br /><br /></p>
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High jump winner Yaroslava Makuchikh at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In the girls' hammer, Valeriya Ivanenko eased to gold with a combined winning margin of more than 10 metres. As in the first stage, the Ukrainian was the only girl to throw beyond 70 metres with a best of 72.08m. Egypt's Rawan Ayman Ibrahim Barakat threw 66.50m to finish second, as she did in the first stage, and secure silver. Cuba&rsquo;s Alegna Osorio Mayari&rsquo;s consistency over the two stages (63.69m and 63.31m) proved enough for bronze.</p>
<p>The third of Ukraine&rsquo;s gold medals came via Mykhaylo Kokhan in the boys&rsquo; hammer. He had led after stage one and made no doubt of the title by throwing 85.14m in round three. It was as-they-were behind him, with Bulgaria&rsquo;s Valentin Andreev throwing 81.67m to secure silver, and China&rsquo;s Wang Qi finding 75.90m for bronze.</p>
<p><strong>Thomas Byrne for the IAAF</strong></p>

After a 94-year hiatus, cross country returned to the Olympic arena on Monday (15) at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games.

Muema and Chelangat secure gold in historic cross country races at Youth Olympic Games

<p>Though deciding medallists based on combined results makes for some head-scratching at the end of an event, the drama the format provides was evident on the fourth day of athletics at the <strong>Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games</strong> on Sunday (14). No more so than in the women&rsquo;s long jump, where a single centimetre separated the three medallists after a bout of last-round drama.</p>
<p>Fourth after stage one, Belgium&rsquo;s Maite Beernaert was out of contention as she failed to get past six metres with her opening three efforts. Then came a timely &ndash; and wind assisted &ndash; 6.31m (2.4m/s) to catapult her to the top of the standings. She was as stunned as her rivals.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Now that I have the medal around my neck, I can be sure that I finished first,&rdquo; said a giddy Beernaert. &ldquo;Before, it was unbelievable. This is the best day of my life!&rdquo;</p>
<p>Klaudia Endresz of Hungary also produced her best in the final round to wrestle silver from Austria&rsquo;s Ingeborg Gruenwald, the first stage winner. The pair ended tied on a combined score of 12.31m, Endresz edging it with her superior second best jump. Gruenwald must have been wondering which god she had wronged: even her 6.20m best leap failed to qualify as a personal best due to the 2.8m/s tailwind. Still, she leaves Buenos Aires with a bronze.<br /><br /></p>
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High jump winner Chen Long at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympics Games</div>
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<p>The men&rsquo;s high jump delivered an extended spectacle, as China&rsquo;s Chen Long and Australia&rsquo;s Oscar Miers both cleared a Youth Olympic record of 2.22m long after the track programme had concluded.</p>
<p>First stage winner Chen carried an eight-centimetre advantage over his Australian rival, but that fact didn&rsquo;t diminish the competition a jot. Chen&rsquo;s performance saw him secure the gold in style, while Miers&rsquo; endeavour meant he moved up from seventh to take silver.</p>
<p>&ldquo;He pushed me to clear that height,&rdquo; said Chen, who is coached by his father, a former pole vaulter. &ldquo;2.22m? I am amazed.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Bronze went to Ukraine&rsquo;s Oleh Doroshchuk, who cleared 2.14m to carry his third-place finish from the first stage.</p>
<p>On the track, too, it was clear just how important stage one performances were in settling the podium. Although Luis Antonia Aviles Ferreiro (46.78) was caught on the line by Zambia&rsquo;s Kennedy Luchembe (46.36) in the second stage of the men&rsquo;s 400m, the Mexican&rsquo;s dominant performance in Thursday&rsquo;s rain meant he remained top in the combined results.</p>
<p>Silver went to Luchembe, the African youth champion, whose wide smile suggested he was happy with his week&rsquo;s work. Bronze returned to the USA via Nicholas Ramey.</p>
<h3>Double winners remove the doubt</h3>
<p>Not that the abacus was in constant use.</p>
<p>Grace Stark was the first gold medallist of the day &ndash; and indeed the week &ndash; after speeding through to win the second stage of the women&rsquo;s 100m hurdles in an eye-catching 12.83 (2.8m/s). Stark, who entered the race ranked first after 13.31 in the first stage, came under pressure from Jamaica&rsquo;s Ackera Nugent through the third quarter but remained calm to pull away for the title.<br /><br /></p>
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Grace Stark leads her heat of the girls' 100m hurdles at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympics Games</div>
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<p>Nugent survived an injury over the final barrier to finish second in 12.96, although that was only good enough for bronze, as Australia&rsquo;s Sophie White stayed close enough to retain the silver medal position.</p>
<p>Keely Small was another double stage winner in the 800m to claim the gold. The composed Australian kicked off the final bend and cruised through the line in 2:04.76. Her combined winning margin was 2.8 seconds.</p>
<p>USA&rsquo;s Athing Mu trailed through in second to claim silver. South Africa&rsquo;s Prudence Sekgodiso was the third runner to cross the line but she was later disqualified for a lane infringement, meaning bronze went to Hirut Meshesha of Ethiopia.</p>
<p>Connor Bell backed up his Youth Olympic record throw from stage one (66.84m) with a 66.24m opening round effort in the concluding stage to secure discus gold. The New Zealander was simply a cut above: no other athlete surpassed 60 metres in either stage.</p>
<p>Puerto Rico&rsquo;s Jorge Luis Contreras threw 59.07m to secure silver, while bronze went to Gracjan Kozak of Poland after a personal best of 59.52m.</p>
<p>It was much closer in the women's discus, but stage one winner Melany del Pilar Matheus Morejon was not to be caught after bagging another win. The Cuban improved on her best from Thursday, going out to 54.95m to secure gold ahead of authorised neutral athlete Violetta Ignatyeva. Turkey's Ozlem Becerek was fourth on the day, but her consistency across both series (51.90m and 51.96m) meant she did enough to hold off Alida van Daalen and take bronze.</p>
<p>Leni Freyja Wildgrube impressed as the gold medal winner in the pole vault. The German, who won the first stage in torrid conditions on Thursday, was a class apart in Sunday&rsquo;s sunshine. Though she had some early failures, her winning mark of 4.17m was 20 centimetres better than silver medallist Krystsina Kantsavenka of Bulgaria. France&rsquo;s Emma Brentel cleared 3.92m for bronze.</p>
<p>Girls&rsquo; 400m gold medallist Barbora Malikova was another double stage winning champion. The Czech sprinter showed no signs of fatigue at this advanced stage of the year (she won the European U18 title back in July), flowing through the home straight to win in 54.68.</p>
<p>There was no movement in the medal places behind her, as Germany's Marie Scheppan secured second and silver in 55.15, and Zambia's Niddy Mingilishi crossed third in 55.32 for bronze.</p>
<p><strong>Thomas Byrne for the IAAF</strong></p>

Though deciding medallists based on combined results makes for some head-scratching at the end of an event, the drama the format provides was evident on the fourth day of athletics at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympics Games on Sunday (14). No more so than in the women’s long jump, where a single centimetre separated the three medallists after a bout of last-round drama.

Beernaert secures Youth Olympic gold in spectacle of stages in Buenos Aires

<p>A flurry of <strong>Youth Olympic Games</strong> Records fell in the field as the sun shone on the third day of athletics in Buenos Aires on Saturday (13).</p>
<p>The six-metre exploits of Armand Duplantis and Timur Morgunov made 2018 the year of the pole vault pretenders &ndash; it was evident at the Youth Olympic Park that more lie in wait. While Estonia's Eerik Haamer put up a clearance 5cm superior to Noel-Aman del Cierro Vilalta&rsquo;s previous championship best of 5.10m, he couldn't defeat Russia's Dmitriy Kachanov, who made that height first time and went on to clear 5.20m.</p>
<p>Impressive vaulting, but still some 10cm short of Kachanov&rsquo;s personal best. More could come in the second stage decider, where one would expect France&rsquo;s Baptiste Thiery &ndash; who also owns a 5.30m PB &ndash; to also challenge.</p>
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Aleksandra Nacheva in Buenos Aires</div>
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<p>Two athletes also bettered the previous record in the women&rsquo;s triple jump. Both Bulgaria's Aleksandra Nacheva and Spain's Maria Vicente hop-step-jumped out to 13.76m in round two to write their names in the books. The stage one win, however, goes to Nacheva, courtesy of her superior second best mark of 13.11m.</p>
<p>There was more history in the first stages of the men&rsquo;s triple jump and women&rsquo;s javelin, as Jordan Diaz and Elina Tzengo also bagged records.</p>
<p>Competing in front of a packed and boisterous stand on the back straight, Cuban Diaz &ndash; the world U18 and U20 champion &ndash; opened up with a record breaking 16.70m, improving it with 17.14m in round two before passing his remaining efforts. Nigeria&rsquo;s Ineh Emmeanuel Oritsemeyiwa was next best with 16.34m (+2.3).</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy with the mark, yes,&rdquo; said Diaz. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have a distance in my head for the second stage, but my aim is always to improve.&rdquo;</p>
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Elina Tzengko of Greece at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires</div>
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<p>Elina Tzengo was also on the double in the javelin. After fouling her first effort &ndash; which went out beyond the championships record line &ndash; the Greek thrower set a personal best and Youth Olympic record of 62.47m in round two, bettering it with her final effort of 63.34m. No other athlete was over 60m, including China&rsquo;s Ying Wang, who entered as the best ranked athlete but could only produce 54.77m for fifth.</p>
<p>The men&rsquo;s javelin was won by Jano Esterhuizen, of South Africa, with a personal best 77.69m. Argentine Gustavo Agustin Osorio placed second with 76.03m &ndash; also a personal best &ndash; to give the home crowd a performance to cheer in a more partisan manner.</p>
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Gustavo Agustin Osorio of Argentina after the javelin throw competition at the Youth Olympic Games</div>
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<p>Of course, like all field events, medals will be decided by combined scores across two stages. Those records, although impressive, will only yield hardware if the athletes can perform once more in stage two.</p>
<h3>Qatari strength on show on the track</h3>
<p>Less than 12 months out from the IAAF World Championships Doha 2019, a pair of Qatari athletes showed good turns of speed on the track.</p>
<p>Owaab Barrow recorded a personal best 13.33 to lead after stage one of the men&rsquo;s 110m hurdles. Sharp from the gun, he flew through the middle section to record his lifetime best and earn a small cushion going into the second stage. Hong Kong&rsquo;s Lok Hei Addis Wong was next best, winning his heat in 13.74, while Morocco's Abderrazzak Mouzdahir and France's Kenny Fletcher &ndash; fastest coming into the Games &ndash; both recorded 13.76 to lie within striking distance.</p>
<p>And another Qatari was quickest in the men&rsquo;s 200m, as Abdelaziz Mohamed set a personal best 21.10 to win his heat and lead ahead of stage two. Second swiftest overall was heat two winner, Jamaica&rsquo;s Antonio Watson, who recorded 21.33. The Jamaican is a sub-21 runner at his best: his and Mohamed&rsquo;s second stage clash will be one to watch.</p>
<p>In the women&rsquo;s half-lapper, European youth champion Gudbjorg Jona Bjarnadottir set an Icelandic record as she recorded the fastest time of the three heats. The 16-year-old clocked 23.55 to win her heat with some comfort ahead of Brazil&rsquo;s Leticia Maria Nonato Lima, who recorded 24.16 to go into stage two second overall.</p>
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Competitors in the girls 200m at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires</div>
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<p>Cabezas Caracas was the fastest stage one runner in the women&rsquo;s 400m hurdles. The Colombian, owning the fastest time of all the entrants, won the first of the three heats in 59.19, although her reaction suggested she was not satisfied with that clocking. Still, it gives her a comfortable lead going into the second stage, with only heat three winner Jessica Vitoria de Oliveira Moreira, of Brazil, joining her with a sub 60-second clocking courtesy of a personal best 59.41.</p>
<p>On the men&rsquo;s side, Japan's Haruto Deguchi was the surprise winner of the first heat. He powered over the final two barriers to set a personal best of 51.40 ahead of South Africa's African Youth champ Lindokuhle Gora, whose 51.70 sees him second overall ahead of the second stage.</p>
<p>In the men&rsquo;s 800m, Tasew Yada, of Ethiopia, was the only man inside 1:50. Yada had the fastest time of the entrants, and showed a late turn of speed to win his heat in 1:49.38. Algerian Mohamed Ali Gouaned crossed second in that race with a personal best 1:50.08 to rank second after the first stage.</p>
<p>The close of today&rsquo;s session concludes the first stages; starting tomorrow, every event in Buenos Aires will be a medal decider.</p>
<p><strong>Thomas Byrne for the IAAF</strong></p>

A flurry of Youth Olympic Games Records fell in the field as the sun shone on the third day of athletics in Buenos Aires on Saturday (13).

Field the focus as four Youth Olympic Games records fall in Buenos Aires

<p>Nazareno Sasia lived up to his billing as one of Argentina&rsquo;s big hopes for the <strong>Youth Olympic Games</strong> in Buenos Aires on Friday (12), making the men&rsquo;s shot put competition his own at the Youth Olympic Park.</p>
<p>The 17-year-old entered with the best throw by any U18 athlete this year courtesy of a South American U18 record 21.40m in August. He underlined his favourite status from the get-go, putting his first shot out to a personal best 21.58m to send the crowd cooing.</p>
<p>Sasia improved further with his last effort, notching 21.94m to give him a 72cm lead over second place, Belarusian Aliaksei Aleksandrovich. His final round best means Aleksandrovich stays within touching distance of the home hero ahead of the second stage, after which combined results decide the medallists.</p>
<p>In the women&rsquo;s shot put, Xinhui Li, China&rsquo;s U18 world leader, was similarly dominant. Three of her four efforts would have won her the stage, though it was her third round 18.42m that stood as her best. Belarus&rsquo; Yelizaveta Dorts was next best with 17.60m.</p>
<p>The favourites also lived up to their billings in the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s 2000m steeplechase races.</p>
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Abrham Sime Tufa of Ethiopia en route to his stage victory at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Ethiopia&rsquo;s African Youth champion Abrham Sime was a cut above in the men&rsquo;s. Wearing the name Tufa on his bib, the 16-year-old ran within himself through the first km before ramping up his pace to win in a personal best 5:34.94. It gives him strong hopes ahead of the cross country distance decider on Monday. Tunisia&rsquo;s birthday boy Ahmed Sayf Kadri was next through the line in 5:44.56 &ndash; a personal best that will go down well with a slice of cake.</p>
<p>The women&rsquo;s race played out in largely similar fashion, with Kenya&rsquo;s world leader Fancy Cherono cruising the first kilometre before breaking decisively. The African Youth champion&rsquo;s 6:26.08 clocking was just shy of two seconds swifter than second place Mekides Abebe, of Ethiopia, while Sri Lanka&rsquo;s Asian U18 champion Parami Wasanthi Maristela&rsquo;s personal best 6:33.06 for third was also notable.</p>
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Fancy Cherono of Kenya in action in the girl's 2000m steeplechase in Buenos Aires</div>
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<p>Ricuo Xi impressed in the women&rsquo;s 5000m race walk, and will fancy her chances of retaining that top ranking after the disqualification of Belarus&rsquo; Hanna Zubkova, the fastest this year of those entered. After breaking on two kilometres, the Chinese walker continued to push and survived two warnings to win in 22:23.26, a personal best and the fastest time by a teenager in 2018. It gives her an advantage of more than six seconds over Mexico&rsquo;s Sofia Ramos Rodriguez, who finished second, also with a personal best.</p>
<h3>Ukrainians prosper in the field</h3>
<p>Any one of Ukraine&rsquo;s Valeriya Ivanenko&rsquo;s four hammer throws would have won her the first stage of the women&rsquo;s contest, all of them thudding down beyond 71 metres, while the best of the rest toiled in the 60s. Ivanenko&rsquo;s best was her fourth, a 74.90m that gives her more than five metres of breathing space over Egypt&rsquo;s Rawan Ayman Ibrahim Barakat.</p>
<p>The men&rsquo;s hammer was also won by a Ukrainian, as the top three threw to form. Event favourite Mykhaylo Kokhan spun out to 84.90m in round three to win, while Valentin Andreev, of Bulgaria, recorded 82.29m for second, and China&rsquo;s Qi Wang 79.46m for third.</p>
<p>High jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh made it a better day still for the Ukraine team. She had the stage won at 1.87m, clearing to see off Russia&rsquo;s Mariya Kochanova. Mahuchikh, the European U18 champion, went over 1.92m first time &ndash; and with some daylight &ndash; before fouling out at 1.95m.</p>
<p>Joshua Cowley made good use of a 2.6 m/s tailwind to edge proceedings in stage one of the men&rsquo;s long jump. The Australian caught a flyer in round three to reach 7.71m and carry a 6cm lead over Cuba&rsquo;s Lester Alcides Lescay Gay, who himself finished 6cm ahead of third place Jason Donavan Tito, of South Africa.</p>
<h3>Fifteen faves prevail while sprinters struggle for speed</h3>
<p>Entering as the fastest in the field, Kenya&rsquo;s Edina Jebitok won the fastest of the two stage one women&rsquo;s races in 4:16.68 to head into the cross country as the 1500m favourite. Australia&rsquo;s Jaylah Hancock-Cameron's personal best of 4:18.44 earned her second in that race and overall. Lemlem Hailu, of Ethiopia, won the first race in 4:25.03, ranking her fifth overall at this stage.</p>
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Edinah Jebitok, winner of the 1500m stage at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The fastest entrant also earned the quickest time in the men&rsquo;s 1500m, as Ethiopia&rsquo;s Melese Kefale moved with 600 metres remaining to win the second heat in 3:52.95. He was quick to congratulate Morocco&rsquo;s Anass Essayi, who came home second in the race and overall in 3:53.75. First heat winner, Burunidan Jean de Dieu Butoyi, enters the cross country ranked third overall, after his 3:54.32 performance.</p>
<p>Headwinds and cold conditions meant less than ideal conditions for sprinting. In the women&rsquo;s 100m, just two athletes broke 12 seconds: Ecuador's Gabriela Suarez (11.97, -3.0) and St Lucia's Julien Alfred (11.99, -1.8).</p>
<p>The sun came out for the men&rsquo;s short sprints, which concluded the day&rsquo;s programme, and it was Luke Davids, of rainbow nation South Africa, who prospered. Despite the 2.3/s headwind in his heat, the 17-year-old left the field in his dust to win in 10.56. Nigeria&rsquo;s Alaba Olukunle Akintola was second in that race in 10.76 to place second overall at this halfway stage.</p>
<p><strong>Thomas Byrne for the IAAF</strong></p>

Nazareno Sasia lived up to his billing as one of Argentina’s big hopes for the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires on Friday (12), making the men’s shot put competition his own at the Youth Olympic Park.

Sasia sends Argentine pulses racing at Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires

<p>Uganda&rsquo;s distance runners laid down a strong marker on the opening day of athletics at the <strong>2018 Youth Olympic Games</strong> on Thursday (11), as rainy conditions didn&rsquo;t dampen the fierce competition in Buenos Aires&rsquo; Youth Olympic Park.</p>
<p>Distance medallists in Argentina will be decided based on placings over two stages, with 1500m, 3000m and 2000m steeplechase athletes all entered for the cross country later in the programme.</p>
<p>In the women&rsquo;s 3000m, Sarah Chelangat won with the sort of strength needed to prosper away from the track. The Ugandan sat happily in the lead group until 1800 metres, when she eased to the front. As Kenya&rsquo;s Mercy Chepkorir and Ethiopia&rsquo;s Abersh Belay sparred for second behind, Chelangat remained unflustered, sprinting from the pair with 200 metres to go to win in a personal best 9:11.63. Chepkorir outdueled Belay to cross in second.</p>
<p>It was a similar story in the men&rsquo;s event, as Oscar Chelimo showed brilliant resilience to hold off Ethiopia&rsquo;s Berihu Teklehaimanot and Kenya&rsquo;s Jackson Muema for another Ugandan win. The three moved to the front with 600 metres to go after reeling in Tanzania&rsquo;s fast-starting Francis Damasi. Chelimo&rsquo;s lead was marginal as the trio hit the bell, but he repelled late surges to cross first in 8:08.20.</p>
<p>A good win for both Ugandans, but they count for nothing until Monday&rsquo;s off-road decider.</p>
<p>It is similarly finely-poised in the women&rsquo;s discus which, like all throwing events, will be decided by combined marks across two stages. Cuba&rsquo;s Melany del Pilar Matheus Morejon was the winner in the first courtesy of a best throw of 53.70m. Her advantage over Russia&rsquo;s Violetta Ignatyeva is just 23cm; Tukey&rsquo;s Ozlem Becerek (51.90m) and China&rsquo;s Quantong Liu (50.30m) were also over the 50-metre mark, making it tight at the top ahead of the second stage.<br /><br /></p>
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Leni Freyja Wildgrube of Germany in Buenos Aires</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>It's not quite as tight in the men's competition, with New Zealand's Connor Bell finding 66.84m with his third attempt to lead by over nine metres ahead of Brazil's Vitor Gabriel Motin, in second.</p>
<h3>Drama in the walks as jumpers battle conditions</h3>
<p>The session began with stage one of the men&rsquo;s 5000m race walk &ndash; like the middle distance and sprint races, results in walks will be combined across two stages to decide the medallists. In this opener, Ecuador&rsquo;s Oscar Patin surged ahead of China&rsquo;s Xin Wang on halfway, with Mexican Cesar Cordoba Fernandez taking up the chase. He moved to the lead with 600 metres to go, kicking hard to cross the line first in 20:09.90.</p>
<p>The drama didn&rsquo;t stop there. Fernandez was given a 30-second penalty for loss of contact, dropping him to fifth and handing the win to Patin, in 20:13.69. Suraj Panwar, of India, crossed in third and therefore took second, comfortably ahead of the fading Wang, who nonetheless earned third overall.</p>
<p>The women&rsquo;s pole vault proved to be a war of attrition, the contest extending close to three hours in worsening conditions. Leni Wildgrube, of Germany, used her efforts wisely, clearing first time at 3.95m after passing the previous height. France&rsquo;s Emma Brentel was five centimetres behind for second, with Estonian Marleen Muella a further five centimetres back in third.</p>
<p>Long Chen, of China, was impressive in the men&rsquo;s high jump, despite worsening conditions. Jumping alone, he cleared 2.13m at the third attempt for a notable first stage win. Finland&rsquo;s Arttu Mattila and Ukraine&rsquo;s Oleh Doroshchuk both went over 2.09m, with Mattila&rsquo;s first time make enough to give him the edge at the half way stage. Six behind cleared 2.05m, queuing up should any of the leaders falter later this week.<br /><br /></p>
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Luis Antonio Aviles Ferreiro in the opening round of the 400m at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Austria's Ingeborg Gruenwald has a narrow lead after stage one of the women's long jump. She went out to 6.11m with her third jump for a narrow advantage over Swiss jumper Emma Piffaretti, who recorded 6.06m with her single legal jump.</p>
<h3>Hurdles and mid-distance contests poised after opening stages</h3>
<p>A personal best 13.31 from Grace Stark saw the American win her 100m hurdles heat and also lead overall after the first stage. Australia&rsquo;s Sophia White, fastest coming into the Games, wasn&rsquo;t far behind Stark, claiming second in 13.39 to go into stage two as the second fastest overall. Heat 2 winner Ackera Nugent, of Jamaica, was the only athlete to break 13.5, running 13.45 to leave her well in contention.</p>
<p>The fastest time of the women&rsquo;s 800m heats came out of the final race, as Australia&rsquo;s Keely Small front-ran her way to win in 2:05.68. Next fastest was Germany&rsquo;s Sophia Volkmer, who held form to move past Kenya&rsquo;s Angela Munguti in the final strides to win the opening heat in 2:06.92. The second heat was won by Ethiopia&rsquo;s Hirut Meshesha Mero in 2:08.35 &ndash; her PB of 2:01.16 set this year suggests she will challenge in the second stage.</p>
<p>Barbora Malikova was fastest across the four 400m heats. The Czech, entering as the second-fastest athlete, recorded 54.18 to win the first and top the standings after the first stage. Marie Scheppan was the only other athlete under 55-second, recording 54.91 to enter the deciding stage in second.</p>
<p>On the men&rsquo;s side, Mexico&rsquo;s Luis Antonio Aviles Ferreiro &ndash; ranked the quickest coming into the Games with a PB of 46.04 &ndash; stormed away to win heat 2 in 47.45 &ndash; more than two seconds ahead of Australia&rsquo;s Keegan Bell. It leaves the Mexican in pole position going into the deciding second stage.</p>
<p><strong>Thomas Byrne for the IAAF</strong></p>

Uganda’s distance runners laid down a strong marker on the opening day of athletics at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games on Thursday (11), as rainy conditions didn’t dampen the fierce competition in Buenos Aires’ Youth Olympic Park.

Chelangat and Chelimo impress for Uganda on Youth Olympic Games opener

<p>The provisional entry list for athletics events at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games is now available.</p>
<p>The list can be downloaded as a PDF with entries sorted by event and team [<a href="https://www.iaaf.org/download/downloadresultinfo?filename=06338983-f0cc-45ca-969d-759efb1cd64d.pdf&amp;urlSlug=entry-list" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>download</strong></span></a> | <a href="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitioninfo/06338983-f0cc-45ca-969d-759efb1cd64d.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>view</strong></span></a>]. The provisional list of entries is subject to change ahead of the start of competition.</p>
<p>The athletics programme runs from 11-16 October and will <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.iaaf.org/competitions/youth-olympic-games/news/buenos-aires-youth-olympics-athletics-entries" target="_blank" rel="noopener">incorporate some new innovations</a></strong></span>, including a cross-country race for athletes entered in the 1500m, 3000m and 2000m steeplechase and a mixed 8x100m relay.</p>
<p><strong>IAAF</strong></p>

The provisional entry list for athletics events at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games is now available.

Provisional entries available for Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games

<p>Provisional entries for the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games confirm that 179 nations will be represented among the 680 allocated places for athletics in the Argentinean capital from 11-16 October.</p>
<p>As with the previous two editions of the Games, there will be two stages to each of the 36 medal disciplines, but this year the format has changed so that the performances from both stages will be added together to determine the overall final placing.</p>
<p>In track events from 100m to 800m, including hurdles events, heats in stage one will be arranged using IAAF seeding rules. The results from the heats will determine the athletes' allocation to the stage two heats.</p>
<p>The top eight athletes from stage one will compete in the last heat in stage two. The remaining athletes will be spread equally over the other heats according to their times in stage one.</p>
<p>The 5000m race walk will have just one heat in each stage. The pit lane rule shall be used; after a third red card, athletes will serve a 30-second penalty. Any further red cards will result in a disqualification.</p>
<p>In the field events, all athletes will compete in one group in both stages. The performance of each athlete in both stages will be added together to determine the overall final placing. In the throws and horizontal jumps, all athletes will have four trials. There will be no change of order after the first three trials.</p>
<p>The 48 boys and 48 girls entered for the 1500m, 3000m and 2000m steeplechase will contest an individual heat of their specialist distance as the first stage of their competition. The second stage will be held as a 4km cross-country race &ndash; one race for boys and one race for girls &ndash; on the morning of 15 October.</p>
<p>The results of the cross-country race will be adjusted to reflect separate rankings for the 1500m, 3000m and 2000m steeplechase respectively with medals being allocated accordingly in the three individual track disciplines.</p>
<p>The mixed 8x100m relay, which was introduced in 2014, will also feature at this year's Games and will involve athletes from all track and field disciplines.</p>
<p>During the Games, an extensive culture and education programme will be organised for the athletes in which the IAAF encourages athletes to participate. The parks in Buenos Aires will also host a huge celebration to receive the thousands of spectators who will come out to see the best youth athletes in the world.</p>
<p><strong>IAAF</strong></p>

Provisional entries for the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games confirm that 179 nations will be represented among the 680 allocated places for athletics in the Argentinean capital from 11-16 October.

More than 170 nations set to compete at Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games

<p>The <strong>IAAF World Cross Country Championships Aarhus 2019</strong> will take place in 200 days&rsquo; time, but Tuesday 11 September marks another important milestone for cross country.</p>
<p>In one month from today, the athletics programme will get under way at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games, where cross-country running will make its debut.</p>
<p>Cross-country running last appeared in the Olympic arena back in 1924 at the summer Games in Paris, but it will feature in the Argentinean capital next month in a new and innovative format.</p>
<p>As is the case with all individual athletics disciplines at the Youth Olympic Games, there will be two stages to the distances events, in which 48 boys and 48 girls will be entered.</p>
<p>In stage one of the 1500m, 3000m and 2000m steeplechase, all athletes will compete in a heat of their individual event. In the second stage of the competition, all athletes from those three events&nbsp;will compete in a cross-country race &ndash; one race for boys and one race for girls.</p>
<p>The placings of athletes in each individual event and in the cross-country race will be added to determine the overall final placings with the athlete having the lowest total score being the overall winner. The results of the cross-country race will be adjusted to reflect separate rankings for the 1500m, 3000m and 2000m steeplechase respectively with medals being allocated accordingly in the three individual track disciplines.</p>
<p>For example, an athlete placing second in the 3000m and fourth of the 3000m runners in the cross-country race will receive a final score of six points.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It has long been our desire to see cross country running back in the Olympic Games,&rdquo; said IAAF President Sebastian Coe. &ldquo;We see the inclusion of cross country in the programme for the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires as the first step towards its return to the main programme of the Olympic Games."</p>
<p>"Cross country is the endurance bedrock on which all middle and long distance running is based and we believe it deserves this recognition,&rdquo; Coe added.</p>
<p><strong>IAAF</strong></p>

The IAAF World Cross Country Championships Aarhus 2019 will take place in 200 days’ time, but Tuesday 11 September marks another important milestone for cross country.

Countdown continues for cross country’s return to Olympic competition

<p>Three days after being lit by the sun at Panathenaic Stadium in Athens on Tuesday, the Youth Olympic Games flame made its way to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to mark the start of its 60-day journey.</p>
<p>One of the first stops for the iconic flame was the ConSudAtle centenary celebrations, where Argentine Olympic Committee President Gerardo Werthein surprised the audience gathered at the Hotel Panamericano in Buenos Aires.</p>
<p>As a salute to the historic anniversary for athletics in the area, Werthein entered the dinner carrying the Olympic flame housed in a lantern, remarking that he was delighted the flame for the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018 could visit the number one sport of the Olympic Games.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Exciting ceremony at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens! 🇬🇷<br /><br />The Olympic traditions and the energy of the youth came together to produce the youth Olympic flame. 🙌<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UnitedByTheFlame?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UnitedByTheFlame</a>🔥 <a href="https://t.co/MqvfB9WStP">pic.twitter.com/MqvfB9WStP</a></p>
&mdash; Buenos Aires 2018 (@BuenosAires2018) <a href="https://twitter.com/BuenosAires2018/status/1021715368900022272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
<p>
<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" async=""></script>
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<p>From August to September, the Youth Olympic Games flame will travel 14,000 kilometres around 17 cities of Argentina. The Buenos Aires 2018 Torch Tour will highlight Argentina&rsquo;s cultural and geographical diversity as it travels through the northwest, northeast, Cuyo, Pampa and Patagonia regions.</p>
<p>The flame&rsquo;s tour of the country, which will host the 3rd edition of the Youth Olympic Games later this year, will end on 6 October at the Obelisk in Buenos Aires. This famous city centre monument stands only a matter of a few metres away from the Panamericano hotel in which the ConSudAtle centenary dinner took place.</p>
<p>The dinner show for 100 guests, who included representatives of the IAAF Council, the 13 national athletics associations of South America and star athletes from the area&rsquo;s illustrious history, was hosted by IAAF President Sebastian Coe and ConSudAtle President Roberto Gesta De Melo.</p>
<p>Coe was presented with a Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018 torch by Werthein, Argentinian NOC President, in recognition of athletics&rsquo; status as the number one sport of the Olympic Games.</p>
<p>Commenting on the arrival of the Olympic flame and YOG Torch at the dinner, IAAF President Sebastian Coe said: &ldquo;The Olympic flame is an extraordinary iconic symbol. A symbol which calls athletes and nations together. A symbol of fair and friendly competition. A symbol of inspiration and hope. A symbol that quite literally represents sport at all levels. I am looking forward to returning to Buenos Aires for the Youth Olympic Games later this year.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>IAAF</strong></p>

Three days after being lit by the sun at Panathenaic Stadium in Athens on Tuesday, the Youth Olympic Games flame made its way to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to mark the start of its 60-day journey.

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