WU20 Lima 24 preview: jumps

The World Athletics U20 Championships Lima 24 will take place between 27-31 August, with more than 1700 athletes from 134 teams set to take part.

Here we take a look at the women’s and men’s jumps events at the Estadio Atletico de la Videna.

 

Women’s high jump

Two years on from her win at the World U20 Championships in Cali, Estonia’s Karmen Bruus is entered to defend her title and she does so having jumped a season’s best of 1.87m on home soil in Tartu earlier this month. After focusing on the high jump during the past couple of outdoor seasons, Bruus returned to combined events action this year and set a PB of 5013 points to win the Estonian U20 heptathlon title. Her high jump PB remains 1.96m, a mark that matched the world U18 best when she achieved it in Eugene in 2022.

Serbia’s Angelina Topic claimed bronze in Cali and she tops the entry list with a season’s best of 1.98m, but the two-time senior European medallist is not set to compete in Lima following an injury sustained at the Paris Olympic Games.

Italy’s Aurora Vicini cleared 1.92m indoors, while Belgium’s two-time world U20 fifth-place finisher Merel Maes, USA’s Cheyla Scott and Latvia’s Patricija Jansone have all cleared 1.88m so far this season. Hungary’s 17-year-old Lilianna Batori takes a step up after winning the European U18 title in July.

 

Men’s high jump

USA’s Scottie Vines and Japan’s Kaisei Nakatani have both cleared 2.24m this year and will hope to take that PB form with them to Peru. 

Vines managed that mark for the first time in Texas in March and he backed it up with another 2.24m in Colorado in April before clearing 2.22m to win the US U20 title. The 18-year-old qualified for the final at the US Olympic Trials and will be looking to rebound after being unable to clear his opening height on that occasion.

For 17-year-old Nakatani, his 2.24m clearance came in Fukuoka at the start of this month and followed the then PB of 2.19m he set to secure silver at the Asian U20 Championships in Dubai in April.

The winner in Dubai was China’s Dong Ziang with a 2.21m PB and he’ll hope to be in the medal hunt again. Other contenders include US U20 silver medallist Tito Alofe, who finished eighth at the US Olympic Trials, and Italian U20 champion Matteo Sioli.

 

Women’s pole vault

Hannah Grace and Molly Haywood claimed the top two spots at the USA U20 Championships and they will be hoping for similar success in Lima as they seek to retain the title for their nation after Hana Moll’s victory in Cali in 2022.

Both Grace and Haywood cleared 4.40m to win their US U20 medals, which was a PB for Grace while Haywood tops the entry list with the 4.46m she cleared in Texas in April. Haywood has also managed 4.40m or higher in another six competitions so far this season. Next on the entry list is their compatriot Jathiyah Muhammad, who has a PB of 4.37m, but each team can only field a maximum of two athletes in each event.

French U20 champion Louise Boulent cleared 4.35m in June, while Czechia’s 2022 European U18 silver medallist Viktorie Ondrova has improved to 4.32m this season. Lithuania’s Rugile Miklyciute is another who will be looking to add a global medal to her continental honours, having claimed European U20 silver last year.

 

Men’s pole vault

Three 5.55m-plus vaulters clash as joint world U20 leaders Seifeldin Heneida Abdesalam and Hendrik Muller – who both cleared 5.55m indoors – go up against Switzerland’s Valentin Imsand.

Qatar’s two-time Asian U20 champion Heneida Abdesalam claimed senior Asian indoor silver last year and finished fourth at this year’s championships, clearing 5.55m to improve his own national record. He retained his Asian U20 title in April with a championship record of 5.51m.

Muller won the German U20 title with 5.55m and then jumped 5.50m to win the national age group title outdoors, while Imsand has a PB of 5.61m set last year and will be looking to build on the European U18 and U20 silver medals he has claimed the past two years. His best so far this year is the 5.50m he cleared in Lausanne in May.

Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis – now the world record-holder and a multiple senior global gold medallist – set the championship record of 5.82m when winning the 2018 world U20 title and his compatriot Linus Jonsson could be in the medal fight this time following the PB of 5.43m he set to win the national title in June.

 

Women’s long jump

USA’s Sophia Beckmon leads the entries thanks to the 6.86m PB she set in Illinois in May. The 19-year-old, who won the NACAC U23 title last year, followed that with a slightly wind-assisted 6.50m (2.1m/s) to win the US U20 title. 

Looking to challenge her will be Prestina Oluchi Ochonogor, who has surpassed 6.70m in two competitions so far this season and is fresh from competing at the Paris Olympics, where she made the final. The 18-year-old jumped a PB of 6.79m in April and then 6.75m in June to secure the Nigerian title, while she finished third and fourth respectively at the All-African Games and African Championships.

In what looks set to be a top-class clash, they will be joined by Beckmon’s fellow University of Illinois athlete Elizabeth Ndudi, the European U20 champion who set an Irish record of 6.68m in Champaign in April.

Trinidad and Tobago’s 17-year-old Janae De Gannes, the NACAC U18 champion, jumped 6.50m to win the CARIFTA Games U20 contest in April and will be looking to take another leap forward.

 

Men’s long jump

Like Prestina Oluchi Ochonogor in the women’s event, Petr Meindlschmid has made the journey from Paris to Lima, and he will start as the sole athlete in the field to have surpassed eight metres with a wind-legal jump so far this season.

The Czech 18-year-old jumped a PB of 8.03m to finish seventh at the European Championships and then soared eight metres in Piraeus a couple of weeks later before competing at the Olympics. Italy’s Mattia Furlani, the Olympic bronze medallist in Paris, actually heads the entry list for Lima but the 19-year-old has decided not to compete.

South Africa’s Temoso Masikane has also jumped beyond eight metres this year but his 8.15m in Pretoria in June was slightly wind aided (2.1m/s). He has previously beaten the eight-metre mark in legal conditions, having set his PB of 8.06m – an African U18 best – in Ndola last year, and he jumped 7.99m in Lucca in May.

Although missing Furlani, the Italian team does feature Daniele Leonardo Inzoli, the 16-year-old who claimed European U18 bronze last month and has jumped 7.90m. Serbian champion Luka Boskovic jumped 7.94m to win his national title in June.

 

Women’s triple jump

Uzbekistan’s Sharifa Davronova was just 15 when she won the triple jump title in Cali and she defends her crown in Lima. Since jumping 14.04m to get that global U20 gold, Davronova has become an Asian indoor champion and Asian Games gold medallist, improving her PB to 14.09m to win the latter last October, and she most recently competed at the Paris Olympics.

Davronova has a best of 13.89m so far this season and that places the 17-year old second on the 2024 U20 top list behind China’s Li Yi, who jumped 13.99 in Bengbu in May. 

Davronova’s teammate Khushnoza Shavkatova, the two-time Asian U20 champion, will also have medal ambitions, as will Clemence Rougier of France, who won the European U18 title in 2022 and has set a PB of 13.83m this year. Latvia’s 15-year-old Brenda Dziliana Apsite competes a month on from winning the European U18 title.

 

Men’s triple jump

With Jaydon Hibbert unable to defend his title due to injury, his fellow Paris Olympian Ethan Olivier starts as favourite.

New Zealand’s Olivier finished fourth with 16.03m in that world U20 final won by Hibbert two years ago and has improved by almost a metre since then. He surpassed 17 metres for the first time in May, leaping 17.01m in Potchefstroom, and jumped 16.83m in June. In Paris he achieved 16.16m in qualification.

His PB is more than half a metre farther than his rivals have managed so far, Saudi Arabia’s Sami Bakheet having got closest with 16.49m to win at the Arab U20 Championships. Bakheet also finished second at the Asian U20 Championships in April and the winner on that occasion was China’s Xu Hetong, who is among their competition in Lima and set a PB of 16.31m indoors in March.

Cuba’s 17-year-old Gian C. Baxter will also have the chance to fight for a podium place, to continue his nation’s strong tradition in the event.

Jess Whittington for World Athletics