Double dash delight for Team USATF on two-gold night at World U20 Championships

EUGENE, Oregon — A pair of speedy Texans led a Team USATF gold rush Thursday night at Hayward Field as Mia Maxwell and Tate Taylor swept the women's and men's 100 meter titles on the second day of the 21st World Athletics U20 Championships. It was the first American sweep of the dash titles since Noah Lyles and Candace Hill in 2016. The U.S. picked up three medals on the night to claim the top spot on the medal table with four total and leads the team scoring battle by 15 points with 41.
 
Maxwell, who hails from the Houston suburb of Humble, was first up to take on a top-ranked Jamaican contender, Shanoya Douglas. Douglas entered the meet with the fastest U20 time in the world in 2026 at 10.98 and was the only woman to have dipped under 11 seconds. The two were next to each other with Maxwell in lane five and Douglas in six, and Mia's twin sister, Mariah, occupied lane seven.
 
At the gun Maxwell and Italy's Kelly Ann Doualla Edimo were out together with Douglas a half-stride adrift. Maxwell opened up a gap midway down the straightaway, but Douglas started to close in as the finish line drew near. Keeping her composure, Maxwell held off Douglas' challenge and crossed the line first in 11.14, .03 ahead of Douglas. Doualla Edimo was a surprising third in 11.27, with Mariah Maxwell placing fifth in 11.35.
 
The final event of the evening held great suspense since Gary Card of Jamaica was atop the 2026 U20 list at 9.93, a time he achieved in finishing second at his senior national championships behind reigning world champion Oblique Seville. That didn't faze San Antonio's Tate Taylor, though. Taylor, who won the sprint double at the USATF U20 meet and holds the American U20 record at 9.92, has had a stellar year and he wasn't ready to yield anything on home soil.
 
Lined up next to each other with Card in four and Taylor in five the duo got out well and were basically even midway through the race. Taylor started to ease away with 50 to go and made his victory a convincing one, stopping the clock in 9.94 for the sixth fastest time ever by a U20 athlete. It was the fourth fastest American U20 performance ever. Card settled for silver in 10.05 and South Africa's Marko Ferreira nabbed the bronze in 10.16. Kyler Brown finished just off the podium in fourth with a 10.29.
 
Double USATF U20 throws champ Jaslene Massey was below her usual level in the first three rounds of the women's discus final before she hit a crucial 56.17 in round four to move into medal position. With still conditions not helping even a little bit, Massey needed a big throw on her final attempt to catch China's Yixin Su, who was the leader throughout the competition and had a best of 59.32.
 
Massey produced her best throw of the night, a 58.41 that secured her silver, but it wasn't quite enough to steal the gold, and Su improved to 61.06 on her last attempt to seal the win with the best U20 throw of the year. Marina Hadjicosta of Cyprus was a delighted bronze medalist with a best of 54.88. Jillian Scully had alignment trouble on all three of her attempts and didn't have a legal throw.
 
Rushing from the discus straight to the shot put final, Massey had a very solid excuse for her slow start in the event. She and Jamaica's Able Deborah Mills had to qualify for the shot final during the morning session and in an unusual scheduling move the two throws finals were held consecutively. Massey fouled her first try and went 14.85 in round two before her best effort in the third round, a 15.63 that earned her two more attempts. She couldn't improve on that distance and ended up eighth.
 
Nigeria's Jessica Oji, who was an American until switching allegiance in February, grabbed the gold with a best of 18.08. Belsy Jenniffer Quiñonez of Ecuador set a national U20 record for silver at 17.90, and Emily Scherf gave Germany the bronze with a PB toss of 17.23. In the qualifying round earlier in the day, Addy MacArthur was 19th with a best of 14.94.
 
In the night's other final, Chiora Enyinna-Okeigbo won her heat of the heptathlon 800 to finish 16th in the point standings with 5,290. Destiny Look was 19th with 4,983. Gold went to Finland's Enni Virjonen, who had a 253-point margin of victory with her tally of 6,214.
 
Matching their perfect record in the first round heats of the 400 in the morning session, all four U.S. quartermilers were untroubled in the semifinal round, advancing to the final with a trio of wins and a runner-up finish. Jayden Deleon played a bit of a cat-and-mouse game in the first men's semi, marshaling his energy before pulling away in the final 50 to win in 45.49, and then Olympic 4x400 gold medalist Quincy Wilson took a different tack in semi three and blew the doors open through the first 200 in 21.63 on his way to a big win in 45.02, the fastest time overall.
 
Ataja Stephane-Vazquez had the fastest women's time of the evening by more than a half second, winning the second semi in 51.76. Stephane-Vazquez ran an aggressive final bend to take the lead by 300 and was much too fast for her challengers over the final 100. Clara Adams was very conservative in the first semi, moving from eighth at 100 to seventh at 200. Fifth going through 300 in 38.85, she put the pedal down a bit and finished well to clock 52.81 in second.
 
Second place finishes for Claire Stegall and Ellery Lincoln in their heats in the women's 1500 guaranteed them spots in the final. Stegall ran a savvy race in the first section, moving into third at the bell and then tailing Kenya's Caren Chepchirchir to finish a second behind her in 4:13.09. Lincoln was at or near the front of the pack almost all the way in the third heat and followed winner Elsabet Amare of Ethiopia across the line in 4:19.06.
 
Both U.S. men's pole vaulters are safely through to the final after clearing 5.25. Jaxon Jerabek and Isaiah Whitaker needed two tries each at that height but safely negotiated it to make the 12-man final. Ten of the 12 finalists cleared 5.25, and two made 5.10 on their first attempts to move on.
 
Henry Dixon took advantage of a pokey final heat in the men's 1500 to take third in 3:47.26 and move through to the final. Dixon, the No. 10 all-time U.S. U20 performer, cranked out a 53.13 final 400 to hold off a barrage of fast finishes behind him after the field went through 800 in 2:09.61. Nate Stadtlander fell desperately short of qualifying for the final, missing fifth in heat two by .01 seconds in 3:45.65.
 
Morning Session
 
U.S. intermediate hurdlers went 4-4 in the first round to grab spots in the semifinal, led by heat wins from Miller Warme and Keenen Davis. Warme took the first men's heat by nearly a full second in 49.88, the fastest time of all the eight heats, while Davis easily won the final section in 50.97. Natalie Dumas was second in the women's final heat in 58.85, and Tatum Lynn was fourth in heat five in 59.94 to earn another opportunity to run.
 
Leading all qualifiers for the final of the men's triple jump, Miles Nesmith bounded to a lifetime best of 16.41 in round two of group A after opening up with a 15.63 effort. Justin Arogundade wasn't as fortunate, fouling all three of his attempts.
 
For the first time at the World U20 Championships, the mixed 4x100 was contested. After successive heat wins and world records by Australia (41.64) and Great Britain (41.60), the American quartet of Cy Lugo, Ahlyna Taylor, Nicholas Altheimer, and Aster Jones came away victorious in the final section, clocking 41.82 with handoffs that should yield improvement in the final.
 
Austin Carrera was in the back half of the pack for much of the second heat of the men's 3000 steeplechase and needed to finish in the top eight to snag a spot in the final. He was 10th through the first kilometer in 3:04.65 and dropped back three places through 2K in 6:00.47 as the tempo at the front picked up markedly. With 400 to go, Carrera had inched up to 11th, and he used a 64 second final quarter to push past three runners and dive at the line for eighth in a PB of 8:53.45. Coming down the final 100 it looked like there was too much ground for Carrera to make up on France's Mathis Dubois, but as the Frenchman kept looking over his shoulder Carrera used every ounce of energy he had left to pass him.
 
With no misses on the way to clearing 2.14, Maddox Krotzer qualified for the final of the men's high jump. Krotzer opened at 2.05 and easily sailed over and then went over 2.10 first time before he made 2.14. In an upset of sorts, Gage Voyles was unable to clear 2.14 and went out. Voyles had the top jump by an American U20 athlete this year and equal No. 10 all-time at 2.27, but struggled at 2.05, needing two attempts, and after making 2.10 first time he missed thrice at 2.14.
 
TEAM USATF MEDALS (4)
 
Gold (3)
Mixed 4x400 relay — Shelton, Overton, Hunter, Harris, 3:15.31 (World U20 Best)
Women's 100 — Mia Maxwell, 11.14
Men's 100 — Tate Taylor, 9.94
 
Silver (1)
Women's Discus — Jaslene Massey, 58.41
 
Bronze (0)
 
 
 
 

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