Record medal haul for Team USATF to close out World U20 Championships
EUGENE, Oregon — Setting an all-time record with 24 total medals, Team USATF closed out a memorable 21st World Athletics U20 Championships Sunday at Hayward Field with four golds, a world U20 record, and a surprise American U20 record. The previous highest medal total was 22 by the U.S. in 2016 and the Soviet Union in 1988. Team USATF also tallied 218 points, the highest ever by an American team at this meet, and more than double the next highest nation, Kenya, with 92.
The greatest assemblage of men's sprint talent in U.S. U20 history was bound to produce some fireworks, and the quartet of Blake Hamilton, Dillon Mitchell, Kyler Brown, and Tate Taylor certainly lit up the Hayward crowd with a scintillating world U20 record of 38.16, demolishing the previous global mark of 38.51 set by South Africa in 2021.
Hamilton, last night's silver medalist in the 200, made sure his team would have the lead after the opening leg, running more than a quarter second faster than the nearest challenger to hand off to Mitchell, a fellow Houston-area talent. Mitchell blazed down the backstretch in 9.17 to extend the lead, and passed to 100 finalist Brown, who handled the curve admirably before Taylor got his hand on the baton and clocked one of the fastest anchor legs ever recorded, an 8.75 carry that gave the Americans a .74 second margin of victory over Great Britain, with Jamaica taking bronze in 39.01.
Getting the train rolling right away in the first event on the schedule, Simon Rosselli smashed the American U20 record in the men's discus and came away with surprise gold as his 66.39 in the final round knocked off Estonia's Sten-Erik Iir and pre-meet favorite Joseph Salmon of Jamaica. Rosselli, who was only 10th in qualifying, improved his PB to 63.32 in round one and then did it again with a 64.16 in the third round. His winning toss added more than a meter to the previous U20 national record of 65.34, set in 2009 by Mason Finley. Iir took silver with a PB throw of 65.42, and Salmon earned bronze at 64.37.
U.S. 4x400 relay teams have traditionally been dominant in world U20 competition, and the two American foursomes only added to that excellence with a pair of golds. Ashtyn Lewis kicked it off for the women with a 52.22 opening carry that put the team in the lead and Olivia Harris maintained that lead with her 53.11 split, though the Australians were almost even at the exchange. Clara Adams added some space via a 52.12 third leg run before Talor-Nicole Overton ran away from everyone on the anchor to stop the clock at 3:29.15 after splitting 51.70. It was the ninth fastest U20 time ever and earned the U.S. a 14th gold in the event.
Featuring the men's individual 400 gold and silver medalists on either end, the U.S. men were heavily favored for gold, and they proved that to be the case with a 3:01.39 to win the nation's 17th title in the event with the fifth fastest U20 time ever. Quincy Wilson, an Olympic 4x400 gold medalist at Paris in 2024, ran 45.78 on his leadoff leg and was even with France at the pass. Cameron Tucker gave the Americans the lead with his 45.85 split, and Alexander Osayemi tacked on more distance with a superb 45.19 on the third leg. All that was left was for 400 gold medalist Jayden DeLeon to get the baton safely around, which he did in 44.57 to ensure the victory and the final medal of the Championships. South Africa used a swift 44.35 anchor by Leendert Koekemoer to claim silver in 3:02.76, and France nabbed bronze in 3:04.80.
What started out as something resembling a neighborhood jogging group in the women's 1500 turned into a crazy scramble for hardware on the final two laps, and Claire Stegall almost stole the gold with the best performance ever by an American woman in the event. The pack went through 400 in just under 80 seconds and picked up the tempo a bit over the next 400, hitting 800 in 2:30.
Kenya's Josephine Mancha had the lead until her countrywoman Caren Chepchirchir eased just in front at the bell in 3:15.68. Stegall was a stride behind in fourth and setting herself up for a dramatic conclusion. Coming around the final bend Stegall moved into second behind Mancha and came within .04 of gold on the sprint to the finish as the Kenyan crossed the line in 4:16.73 and Stegall finished in 4:16.77. Her silver is the first by an American, and she joins Christina Aragon (bronze in 2016) as the only two U.S. medalists in the event. Chepchirchir took bronze in 4:17.50, with Ellery Lincoln fifth in 4:22.60.
It was a tale of agony and ecstasy in the men's pole vault. Jaxon Jerabek had the meet of his life, clearing a PB of 5.60 to take bronze, but was subsequently disqualified when it was determined his spikes were not legal in the event. That gave the bronze to U.S. teammate Isaiah Whitaker, who had gone over a best of 5.45 and thought he was fourth and off the podium. As expected, France's Zackaria Dia was the gold medalist, sailing over 5.80, and Estonia's Henri Apri earned silver at 5.75.
Close calls also came in the women's javelin, where Emily Harbach was in medal position until the fifth round, and the women's hammer. Harbach hit 54.27 on her second throw and was sitting pretty before Chinese Taipei's Tai Yu-Chin went 54.34 to overtake her for bronze. Egypt's Aseel Osama Abdel Hamid won with a best of 59.82 on her final throw, and Vita Barbic of Croatia was the silver medalist with a best of 56.60. Sophia Mazzoni placed 10th at 47.31.
The leader in qualifying, Burklie Burton got off to a slowish start with a 61.77 on her first attempt in the hammer but improved to 66.25 in round two, the seventh best throw ever by a U.S. U20 athlete. Burton added a 66.21 in the third round, the eighth best throw ever, and her fourth attempt was her best of the day, a 67.50 toss that was the fourth best American U20 all-time mark. It wasn't quite enough to make the podium, though, as she ended up fourth. Germany's Clara Hegemann won at 68.99, with silver going to Finland's Pinja Karha, and bronze to another German, Nova Kienast.
Miller Warme was fourth in the men's 400 hurdles, clocking 50.06 to miss the medals by .16 seconds. Czechia's Michal Rada moved to No. 10 on the all-time U20 performer list with a 48.59 for gold. Keenen Davis was ninth in 54.49. Other men's oval action had Henry Dixon placing 15th in the 1500 at 3:51.99 and Austen Carrera was 16th in the 3000 steeplechase with a time of 9:05.25. Of historical note, Spain's Bakr el Asri became the first non-Kenya/Ethiopia athlete to take gold in the steeple since 1986.
In the women's high jump, Bailey Hensgens placed eighth with a best of 1.80, a height matched by Brianna Rivers, who tied for ninth. Shi'eana Hall was 10th in the women's triple jump with a top mark of 12.75.
TEAM USATF MEDALS (24)
Gold (12)
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
Men's 400 — Jayden Deleon, 44.47
Women's 100 Hurdles — Maddi Cooper, 12.91
Men's 110 Hurdles — Le'Ezra Brown, 12.72 (=World U20 record)
Men's 200 — Tate Taylor, 19.83 (Championships record)
Women's 200 — Mia Maxwell, 22.37
Men's Discus — Simon Rosselli, 66.39 (American U20 record)
Men's 4x100 relay — Hamilton, Mitchell, Brown, Taylor, 38.16 (World U20 record)
Women's 4x400 relay — Lewis, Harris, Adams, Overton, 3:29.15
Men's 4x400 relay — Wilson, Tucker, Osayemi, DeLeon, 3:01.39
Silver (7)
Women's Discus — Jaslene Massey, 58.41
Men's Hammer — Kayden Hulet, 77.55
Men's Triple Jump — Miles Nesmith, 16.79
Women's 400 — Ataja Stephane-Vazquez, 51.36
Men's 400 — Quincy Wilson, 44.62
Men's 200 — Blake Hamilton, 20.31
Women's 1500 — Claire Stegall, 4:16.77
Bronze (5)
Mixed 4x100 relay — Lugo, Taylor, Altheimer, Kitchings, 41.39 (best U.S. performance ever)
Women's Pole Vault — Kylie Neira, 4.35
Men's 110 Hurdles — Zacchaeus Brocks, 12.98
Women's 200 — Mariah Maxwell, 22.77
Men's Pole Vault — Isaiah Whitaker, 5.45
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
