Alana Reid on her way to the world U20 4x100m title for Jamaica in Lima (© Oscar Munoz Badilla)
A series of thrilling relay races took place on the final day of competition at the World Athletics U20 Championships Lima 24 on Saturday (31), with Jamaica taking the women’s 4x100m title and USA clinching the women’s 4x400m crown.
It was Alana Reid who anchored Jamaica to that 4x100m victory, the 19-year-old adding another gold medal to the 100m title she claimed on day two in Lima. On Saturday she teamed up with individual 200m bronze medallist Shanoya Mikalia Douglas, Alliah Baker and Briana Campbell to clock 43.39.
USA got a good start, as did Australia and Jamaica, but the Australian team, featuring individual 200m medallist Torrie Lewis, struggled with their second changeover and USA with their third. Australia’s Jessica Milat had a marginal lead as she took off for the final leg but she was chased by Reid, who passed her in the closing stages to clinch the win.
Australia and USA were both disqualified and so silver went to Switzerland, anchored by Alicia Masini, with the team’s delight at gaining a medal in a national U20 record of 44.06 clear to see.
Bronze was claimed by Canada in 44.60, that squad featuring individual 400m silver medallist Dianna Proctor on the second leg.
"We are all from different training groups and to see that we could come together as one and make it happen for ourselves and our country, it is really something that we are proud of," said Reid. "It was just for us to come out here and give our best."
A strong anchor leg from Zaya Akins helped USA to the women’s 4x400m title, Akins claiming her second medal in Lima after her individual 400m bronze two days earlier.
It helped USA to top of the medal table at the end of the five days of competition in the Peruvian capital, with eight gold, four silver and four bronze.
Italy had a strong start and led at the first changeover but Australia closed the gap on the second leg and moved into the lead at the break. First leg runner Michaela Mouton had handed over to Olivia Harris for USA before Josie Donelson took over for the third leg. She passed the baton on to Akins in second place, some way back on leaders Australia after Jemma Pollard handed over to Sophia Gregorevic for the anchor.
Gregorevic looked on track for another relay gold after her mixed 4x400m title on the opening day, but Akins caught and passed her on the final bend. Akins surged away for the win, taking the title in 3:30.74, while Australia held on for silver in 3:31.47 and Great Britain got bronze in 3:32.80.
It was a second world U20 4x400m medal for Akins, who ran in the heats in Cali two years ago before her teammates went on to get gold. Gregorevic and Bella Pasquali both leave Lima with two relay medals as Pasquali also ran in the mixed 4x400m.
Meta Tumba had the race of her life when it mattered the most, setting a French U20 record of 55.59 to win the 400m hurdles.
The 18-year-old had the lead as she entered the home straight, and while USA’s Jasmine Robinson worked hard to close the gap, Tumba couldn’t be caught and she raised her arms in celebration before falling to the track in delight.
Robinson followed her home but was later disqualified, moving Poland’s Wiktoria Gadajska up into silver with 56.87, also a national U20 record, and South Africa’s Hannah van Niekerk, who clocked a PB of 56.98, into bronze.
Ethiopia’s Saron Berhe lived up to her status as favourite in the 1500m. The 17-year-old, who won the African title and went sub-four-minutes for the first time earlier this season, timed her kick to perfection to claim her first global crown in 4:16.64.
In a tactical race, Berhe put herself in the middle of a pack led by USA’s Dylan McElhinney with two laps to go. Berhe moved up on approach to the bell and was joined at the front by McElhinney and Canada’s Rachel Forsyth. The rest of the field couldn’t match Berhe’s change of pace and she strode away over the final lap to win by more than a second, gaining Ethiopia’s sixth women’s 1500m title from eight editions of this event.
Forsyth followed in 4:17.94 for silver, while Germany’s Jolanda Kallabis claimed bronze in 4:19.34.
Serbia’s Angelina Topic rebounded after missing the Olympic final through injury, clearing 1.91m to win her first global gold medal in the high jump.
The 19-year-old, who finished sixth at the World U20 Championships in Nairobi in 2021 and claimed bronze at the 2022 edition of the event in Cali, made it through qualification in Paris earlier this month before a foot injury dashed her Olympic dreams for the final.
But the two-time European senior medallist was back to winning ways in Lima, as she overcame a wobble at 1.89m – which she needed all three attempts to clear – and then soared over 1.91m on her first try to secure the title, before calling it a day.
Australia’s Izobelle Louison-Roe cleared a PB of 1.89m to secure silver on countback ahead of Estonia’s Karmen Bruus, who won the title in Cali two years ago.
"It is really crazy to be here because I think the rest of the world saw that I broke my foot four weeks ago in the Olympics and it also broke my heart," said Topic. "I really didnt know what to expect for not just this season, but my career as well. I started walking 10 days ago. We came here without any training for the past three weeks and two weeks ago we did my first jumping training after what happened in the Olympics."
There was a successful title defence by Uzbekistan’s Sharifa Davronova in the women’s triple jump. Two years on from her victory as a 15-year-old in Cali, Davronova – now also an Asian indoor champion, Asian Games gold medallist and Paris Olympian – leapt 13.75m to claim a second consecutive world U20 crown ahead of China’s Li Yi and Italy’s Erika Giorgia Anoeta Saraceni.
Davronova and Li were separated by just a centimetre until the fifth round, as they respectively jumped 13.56m and 13.55m on their second attempts. But Davronova improved to 13.64m in round five and 13.75m in round six, to which Li could not respond. Saraceni secured her bronze medal win with a PB leap of 13.47m.
The women’s hammer closed the competition in Lima and favourite Zhang Jiale of China got the gold. The 17-year-old, who sits third on the world U20 all-time list with her PB of 72.25m, this time threw 68.95m to triumph.
Valentina Savva joined her teammate Iosif Kesidis in claiming a hammer medal for Cyprus, getting silver after the gold by Kesidis two days earlier. Savva threw 67.21m to secure that silver ahead of Hungary’s Villo Viszkeleti who threw 64.94m for bronze.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics