Looking ahead to the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, we're highlighting the rise of a new generation, 10 exciting prospects under the age of 21 who are set to become stars of the sport over the next few years.

In one of the greatest U20 heptathlon competitions in history, Ukraine’s Alina Shukh beat arch rival Geraldine Ruckstuhl to win the European U20 title by the narrow margin of 24 points, scoring a national U20 record of 6381 in Grosseto on Friday (21).

Janek Oiglane from Estonia moved from third after day one to the overall title to win the super league division of the European Combined Events Team Championships, and IAAF Combined Events Challenge meeting, in Tallinn on Sunday (2).

The following world records have recently been ratified...

Renaud Lavillenie will need to be close to his best form to win a record fifth successive European indoor pole vault title in Belgrade next month as Piotr Lisek confirmed his terrific early season shape in Potsdam, becoming the 10th vaulter in history to clear six metres indoors.

Alina Shukh of Ukraine broke the world U20 indoor record in the pentathlon on Friday (27), tallying 4550 points at the national indoor team championships in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine.

Among a plethora of world-leading U18 performances at the inaugural European Youth Championships, the undoubted highlight was Alina Shukh’s heptathlon world U18 best at the four-day event in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, which ended on Sunday (17).

Rising star Maryna Bekh confirmed her vast potential by soaring out to 6.93m to win the women's long jump at the Ukrainian Championships in Lutsk, a four-day competition which came to an end on Sunday (19).

With an astonishing comeback on the second day of competition, Switzerland’s Geraldine Ruckstuhl moved from sixth to first and set a championship record of 6037 points to take gold in a thrilling finale to the girls’ heptathlon at the IAAF World Youth Championships, Cali 2015 on Saturday night (18).

If previous form is to be believed, then the girls’ heptathlon should come down to a head-to-head duel between world youth leaders Ukraine’s Alina Shukh and Austria’s Sarah Lagger.