There have been national junior championships for athletes dating back to the 1920s, with the former Czechoslovakia having organised what is believed to be the first in 1921. But having a global event – the IAAF World Junior Championships – that puts young talent on display is a relatively recent innovation.The early and mid-1980s witnessed a period of many changes in the sport, driven by the energy and vision of the then IAAF President Primo Nebiolo, and among the new ideas to emerge was the introduction of the championships.The concept of having a major international junior championship was far from new – the first South American Junior Championships were as far back as 1959, a similar event in Europe saw the light of day in 1964 while transatlantic junior matches between the USA and USSR started in 1972 – but Nebiolo realised it was time to organise a festival for teenage talent on a truly worldwide basis.At the 34th IAAF Congress held in conjunction with the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and just three years after he came to power, Nebiolo's brainchild was given the green light.The first edition was awarded to Athens later in the year, and the Greek federation swiftly moved into action to organise the first championships in 1986.It was a huge success, possibly bigger than anyone expected, attracting 1188 athletes from 143 countries.Medals in Athens were spread among 27 nations, with African and Asian competitors notably on the podium despite their Area Associations not having a continental junior championship at the time.The five-day event also got a fillip thanks to two world junior records: by the Soviet javelin thrower Vladimir Sasimovich (78.84m) and the US men's 4x400m relay team (3:01.90).There is no doubt, in retrospect, that those first championships clearly demonstrated that there was a real desire by the vast majority of the IAAF's members to test their top young athletes against the best of the rest of the world.It set the scene for the future of what was to become a biennial event. <div class="quote">“Those who follow our sport closely know that these championships were an important moment in our (IAAF) development,” reflected Nebiolo in 1998. </div>“It gave us an opportunity to showcase tomorrow's stars as they take their first steps to greatness. The championships give youngsters a chance to gain the valuable experience of top class competition,” he added, reiterating several of his initial reasons for establishing the IAAF World Junior Championships.Nebiolo was absolutely right in both respects. Many athletes who were later to become household names got their first gold medal on a world stage at the IAAF World Junior Championships while others now knew what it would take to get to the top.British hurdler Colin Jackson, Cuban high jumper Javier Sotomayor and East German discus thrower Ilke Wyludda are just three of the athletes that stand out from the list of winners from Athens. By contrast, the Soviet race walker Olimpiada Ivanova was a lowly 15th in the 5000m race walk but went on, in a Russian vest, to win world and European titles and set world records. Similarly, Algeria’s Hassiba Boulmerka failed to make either the 800m or 1500m final at the 1986 World Junior Championships but, six years later, would win the gold medal over the longer distance at the 1992 Olympic Games.<div class="quote">“When I consider my career, the World Junior Championships gold is one of my most memorable races," remembered Jackson in his autobiography. "I'll always remember it because it had all those ingredients that I would need later to be a champion: to come back successfully from adversity and live up to the responsibility of being a champion." </div>Every single championships since 1986 has seen more illustrious names make their mark on the sporting consciousness for the first time.During the 1990s, names such as Trinidad and Tobago’s Ato Boldon, Kenya's Moses Kiptanui and Daniel Komen, Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie and Derartu Tulu, United States' Adam Nelson, Ecuador’s Jefferson Perez, Romania's Gabriela Szabo, China's Wang Junxia and Cuba's Osleidys Menéndez were all winners at the World Junior Championships.All were to strike gold again at the IAAF World Championships later in their careers.During the 10 years from the 2000 IAAF World Junior Championships in Santiago de Chile, a ground-breaking event as it was the first time that a global stadium-based IAAF competition was staged in South America, a similar roll call can be made. Jamaica's Usain Bolt gave notice of his phenomenal talent when he won the 200m title in 2002 on home soil at the prodigious age of 15, thrilling and stunning observers in the Jamaican capital Kingston. Four years later, Kenya’s David Rudisha was one of the brightest stars of the 2006 IAAF World Junior Championships in Beijing, winning over 800m.Like Bolt, Rudisha was to become a world record-breaker and to be honoured as an IAAF Athlete of the Year before the end of the decade.Among the other men's names that leap out from the list of winners in the new millennium are the USA’s LaShawn Merritt and Kerron Clement, Ethiopia’s Ibrahim Jeylan, France’s Teddy Tamgho, Grenada’s Kirani James and Germany’s David Storl. Female athletes who made the transition from being junior champions to superstars of the sport in this period include Ethiopian distance runner Meseret Defar, Russia's pole vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva, Australian discus thrower Dani Samuels and combined events exponents Carolina Kluft of Sweden and Russia's Tatyana Chernova.The popularity and universality of the championships has also steadily grown with more than 1500 athletes in action from 171 nations at the 2012 edition in Barcelona, the biggest ever participation figures on both counts.A number of winners in the Catalan city, notably Dominican Republic’s 400m runner Luguelin Santos, Kenyan distance runners Conseslus Kipruto and Faith Kipyegon, Trinidad and Tobago's javelin thrower Keshorn Walcott, and 800m gold medallists Nijel Amos and Ajee Wilson, from Botswana and the USA respectively, have already made a big impact at senior international championships in a short time.The question now to be asked is, who will make their mark at Oregon 2014 and put their names into the annals of athletics history?Phil Minshull for the IAAF(Some of the content in this article first appeared in the IAAF centenary book IAAF 1912-2012, 100 Years of Athletics Excellence.)

There have been national junior championships for athletes dating back to the 1920s, with the former Czechoslovakia having organised what is believed to be the first in 1921. But having a global event – the IAAF World Junior Championships – that puts young talent on display is a relatively recent innovation.

Teenage talent to the fore – a brief history of the IAAF World Junior Championships

Wang Junxia’s long-standing 3000m world record of 8:06.11 has seemed beyond the pale to a couple of generations of talented female middle and long-distance runners but 2014 has brought the realisation that it might not be utterly impregnable after all.Genzebe Dibaba’s world indoor record of 8:16.10 during the winter edged the horizon a little closer and the exploits of the Kenyan pair of Hellen Obiri and Mercy Cherono at the opening meeting of the 2014 IAAF Diamond League series, in the Qatari city of Doha on Friday night (9), also served to remind everyone that ultimately all world records can be beaten.In a thrilling race, Obiri outsprinted her compatriot in the final few metres to cross the line in 8:20.68, the fastest time ever outdoors by anyone other than the four Chinese runners, headed by IAAF Hall of Fame member Wang, who posted phenomenal times on home soil at the 1993 National Games in Beijing.Just 0.46 behind was her friend – “We don’t train together but we are regularly in contact by phone and Facebook,” said Cherono – and world 5000m silver medallist.In total, a record seven women finished inside 8:30, including Dibaba who led for much of the second half of the race but unravelled over the final 250m before finishing sixth in 8:26.21.“We knew that Dibaba had asked for a world record pace (not strictly true, as the pacemakers had been asked to go through 1000m in 2:45 and then 2000m in 5:30) so we discussed what we were going to do and decided that we didn’t want to lead as we know Dibaba has a good kick,” added Cherono on Friday, as the 15,000 capacity crowd streamed out into the night.“We were running behind her from when the second pacemaker couldn’t carry on from halfway point, until we heard the bell. People have told us that she looked like she was struggling on the lap before the bell but she was still going fast and we were not aware that she had any problems, we couldn’t see her face,” explained Cherono lucidly, resplendent at the Qatar Sports Club track in purple training shoes, predominantly purple post-race apparel, purple nail varnish and clutching a purple-encased mobile phone.“It was only with about 250 metres to go that I sensed I might have a chance of winning and I tried my best but Hellen just beat me. I know I can go faster over this distance and I hope to do that this year,” she added.Inevitably, the question arose about how much faster, and the issue of Wang’s world record was soon addressed as well.“I think the world record can be broken. We could run much faster tonight but the pace making was not so good,” reflected Cherono.In fact, the two early pace makers quickly drifted away from the pace requested by Dibaba and her advisors. By the halfway point, with Dibaba clearly sensing that Kenya’s Lydia Wafula was struggling to do the job required of her and moving to the front with still more than 1500m to go, the Ethiopian was about seven seconds in arrears of what she was hoping to run.No longer Mission Impossible “With good pace making and good conditions, I think the world record can be broken. It is not impossible,” chipped in Obiri.Various people, slightly incredulously, put it to Obiri and Cherono at the post-race press conference that such a feat would require them running roughly two seconds a lap faster than they had done on Friday night.However, the smiling pair individually and collectively reaffirmed that they believed that they could do it, and perhaps this year if the race and conditions were right.Before any such attempt is mounted, another world record could fall to the Kenyan pair: the women’s 4x1500m.Obiri and Cherono will be part of the Kenyan contingent going to IAAF World Relays in Nassau, The Bahamas, on 24-25 May.The quartet of Cherono, Irene Jelagat, Ann Karindi and Perin Nenkampi set a world record of 17:05.72 (subject to the usual ratification procedures) at altitude in Nairobi but Cherono and Obiri have ambitions of reducing that time significantly in two weeks’ time. “We can go a lot faster than we did in Nairobi,” said Obiri, the world 1500m bronze medallist who can boast of a personal best of 3:58.58 for the metric mile.It doesn’t take too much mental arithmetic to work out that the addition of Obiri to the Kenyan team could see them slice 10 to 20 seconds off their own mark, and perhaps more.Sadly for Obiri and Cherono, there is no graduated time bonus at the World Relays, just one world record bonus of US$50,000 to be shared between the successful quartet.However, a profitable performance in Nassau could put Obiri and Cherono in the right mood to try to dent China’s domination of the top of the women’s all-time 3000m lists. Phil Minshull for the IAAF &nbsp;

Wang Junxia’s long-standing 3000m world record of 8:06.11 has seemed beyond the pale to a couple of generations of talented female middle and long-distance runners but 2014 has brought the realisation that it might not be utterly impregnable after all.

Teenage talent to the fore – a brief history of the IAAF World Junior Championships

Obiri and Cherono warn Wang her 3000m record may finally be challenged