Nairobi Countdown
The tenth and final edition of the annual international athletics championship for youth (under-18) athletes took place in 2017. The Moi International Sports Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, hosted the five-day competition from July 12 to 16. Athletes who were 16 or 17 years old on December 31, 2017 were eligible (born in 2000 or 2001). South Africa took first place in the medals table with 11 medals, five of which were gold, while Kenya came in fourth place with four gold medals and a total of 15 medals. For organizational, logistical, and health and safety considerations, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and Italy decided not to participate in the championships (concerning athletes still underage). The IAAF World U18 Championships were held for the final time as the IAAF Council decided to end the young championships after the 2017 event in Nairobi. “We determined it’s not the ideal pathway for those athletes at that time in their career,” IAAF President Sebastian Coe remarked following the IAAF Council meeting in Rio de Janeiro on August 20, 2016.
In November 2014, Nairobi was awarded the IAAF World U18 Championships, giving Kenya the opportunity to exhibit itself as the host of one of the world’s largest international track and field events, attracting over 2000 athletes and officials from 150 countries. Kenya was supported by the IAAF Council and given the privilege to host the 2017 Championship after demonstrating appropriate capability. South Africa won the championships with five gold medals, three silver medals, and two bronze medals, followed by China with five gold medals, two silver medals, and four bronze medals, which attracted nearly 2,000 participants from 131 countries around the world. Host, Kenya, came in fourth place, their lowest finish in the championships, but with the most medals (15). Officials from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) rated the 10th and last edition of the Under-18 championships as the most well-attended in the event’s twenty-year existence.
Jael Bestue (born September 24, 2000) is a Spanish athlete who competes at the international level. Her most recent victory came in the World Youth Championships 2017 in the women’s 200 m – heat 4 event. She competes in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 60-meter dash, and 4×100-meter relay. Her father’s side of the family hails from Equatorial Guinea. From the age of 13, she began practicing athletics as an extracurricular activity at school, focusing on speed under the tutelage of her coach Ricardo Diéguez. Her first international triumph occurred when she was 16 years old, when she won silver in the 200 meters at the 2017 World U-18 Athletics Championships. In the final, she beat the best record in Spain for youth with a score of 23.61. She also broke the Spanish under-18 record in the 100-meter dash (11.70) and the 200-meter indoor track that year (24.01). Jal Bestué currently owns eight Spanish records and best marks in various categories, using only official distances for each age group.
