The final of the 3000m steeplechase at the 2008 Championships in Poland.

The World Athletics U20 Championships is a biennial world championships for the sport of athletics organised by the World Athletics, contested by athletes in the under-20 athletics age category (19 years old or younger on 31 December in the year of the competition.^[1][2]

The competition was launched as the IAAF World Junior Championships in Athletics in 1986 and renamed to IAAF World U20 Championships in November 2015. The current name was adapted with the name change of the sports governing body in 2019.

Anneisha McLaughlin-Whilby is the most successful athlete at the championships, having won one gold and four silver in individual and relay sprinting events between 2000 and 2004. Chris Nelloms, Davidson Ezinwa and Dexter Lee share the position of most successful male athlete, at four medals each.^[3]

Championships

Edition	Year	Events	Host City	Host Country	Date	Venue	Top of the medal table	Nations	Athletes	Men	Women
1	1986	41	Athens	Greece	16–20 July	Athens Olympic Stadium	East Germany	142	1135	752	383
2	1988	41	Sudbury	Canada	27–31 July	Laurentian University Stadium	East Germany	123	1024	574	450
3	1990	41	Plovdiv	Bulgaria	8–12 August	Deveti Septemvri Stadium	Soviet Union	87	987	606	381
4	1992	41	Seoul	South Korea	16–20 September	Seoul Olympic Stadium	China	90	954	535	419
5	1994	42	Lisbon	Portugal	20–24 July	Estádio Universitário de Lisboa	United States	143	1139	674	465
6	1996	41	Sydney	Australia	20–25 August	Sydney International Athletic Centre	United States	142	1049	640	409
7	1998	43	Annecy	France	28 July – 2 August	Parc des Sports	China	169	1156	657	499
8	2000	43	Santiago	Chile	17–22 October	Estadio Nacional de Chile	Kenya	151	1122	638	484
9	2002	43	Kingston	Jamaica	16–21 July	Independence Park	United States	159	1069	630	439
10	2004	44	Grosseto	Italy	12–18 July	Stadio Olimpico Comunale	United States	168	1261	680	581
11	2006	44	Beijing	China	15–20 August	Chaoyang Sport Centre	Kenya	176	1350	742	608
12	2008	44	Bydgoszcz	Poland	8–13 July	Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Stadium	United States	165	1408	757	651
13	2010	44	Moncton	Canada	19–25 July	Moncton Stadium	Kenya	163	1313	746	567
14	2012	44	Barcelona	Spain	10–15 July	Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys	United States	171	1566	856	710
15	2014	44	Eugene	United States	22–27 July	Hayward Field	United States	175	1546	831	715
16	2016	44	Bydgoszcz	Poland	19–24 July	Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Stadium	United States	140	1359
17	2018	44	Tampere	Finland	10–15 July	Tampere Stadium	Kenya	158	1462
18	2021	45	Nairobi	Kenya	17–22 August	Moi International Sports Centre	Kenya	116	958	523	435
19	2022	45	Cali	Colombia	2–7 August	Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero	United States	145	1533	824	709
20	2024	45	Lima	Peru	26–31 August	National Stadium of Peru
21	2026	45	Eugene	United States		Hayward Field

The 2016 Championships were due to be held in Kazan, Russia until the IAAF's suspension of the All-Russia Athletic Federation, which prohibits Russia from hosting international competitions. This event was relocated.^[2][4]

All-time medal table

As of 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	115	84	64	263
2	Kenya	89	70	53	212
3	Ethiopia	46	51	32	129
4	Russia	43	32	26	101
5	China	39	44	34	117
6	Jamaica	36	52	42	130
7	Germany	33	41	38	112
8	Great Britain	31	26	37	94
9	Cuba	29	33	24	86
10	East Germany	22	10	18	50
11	South Africa	21	17	17	55
12	Romania	20	19	15	54
13	Soviet Union	18	16	22	56
14	France	17	18	18	53
15	Nigeria	14	13	10	37
16	Australia	13	24	28	65
17	Finland	13	13	15	41
18	Bulgaria	13	6	7	26
19	Sweden	12	12	8	32
20	Poland	11	18	20	49
21	Ukraine	10	10	13	33
22	Qatar	9	5	5	19
23	Belarus	8	12	14	34
24	Trinidad and Tobago	8	2	7	17
25	Japan	7	15	31	53
26	Mexico	7	4	1	12
27	Croatia	7	2	4	13
28	Italy	6	7	11	24
29	Netherlands	6	5	14	25
30	Czech Republic	6	4	1	11
31	Spain	5	15	8	28
32	Botswana	5	3	2	10
33	Estonia	5	2	3	10
34	Bahamas	5	0	6	11
35	Hungary	4	13	7	24
36	Uganda	4	3	8	15
37	Brazil	4	2	10	16
38	Unified Team	4	2	5	11
39	New Zealand	4	0	5	9
40	Uzbekistan	4	0	1	5
41	Greece	3	7	7	17
42	Canada	3	6	11	20
43	Switzerland	3	6	6	15
44	Norway	3	6	3	12
45	Turkey	3	4	5	12
46	Latvia	3	4	2	9
47	Morocco	3	3	16	22
48	West Germany	3	3	3	9
49	Serbia	3	2	4	9
50	Algeria	2	5	1	8
51	India	2	4	4	10
52	Bahrain	2	3	8	13
53	Lithuania	2	3	1	6
54	Israel	2	1	0	3
–	Authorised Neutral Athletes	2	1	0	3
55	Moldova	2	0	2	4
56	Montenegro	2	0	0	2
57	Colombia	1	4	4	9
58	Ecuador	1	4	3	8
59	Slovenia	1	4	1	6
60	Yugoslavia	1	3	3	7
61	Argentina	1	3	1	5
62	Namibia	1	3	0	4
63	Belgium	1	2	5	8
64	Slovakia	1	2	4	7
65	Portugal	1	2	3	6
66	Saudi Arabia	1	2	2	5
67	Sudan	1	2	1	4
68	Grenada	1	1	2	4
69	Chile	1	1	1	3
70	Austria	1	1	0	2
	Iran	1	1	0	2
72	Barbados	1	0	1	2
	Peru	1	0	1	2
74	Dominican Republic	1	0	0	1
	Indonesia	1	0	0	1
	Turks and Caicos Islands	1	0	0	1
77	Eritrea	0	4	2	6
	Tanzania	0	4	2	6
79	Ireland	0	4	0	4
80	Czechoslovakia	0	3	2	5
81	Egypt	0	3	1	4
82	Djibouti	0	2	0	2
83	South Korea	0	1	5	6
84	Kazakhstan	0	1	1	2
	Kuwait	0	1	1	2
86	Antigua and Barbuda	0	1	0	1
	Burundi	0	1	0	1
	Denmark	0	1	0	1
	Guyana	0	1	0	1
	Malawi	0	1	0	1
	Netherlands Antilles	0	1	0	1
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	0	1	0	1
	Seychelles	0	1	0	1
	Tunisia	0	1	0	1
	Venezuela	0	1	0	1
96	Cyprus	0	0	2	2
	Ghana	0	0	2	2
	Zimbabwe	0	0	2	2
99	Azerbaijan	0	0	1	1
	British Virgin Islands	0	0	1	1
	Cayman Islands	0	0	1	1
	Chinese Taipei	0	0	1	1
	Fiji	0	0	1	1
	Guatemala	0	0	1	1
	Iceland	0	0	1	1
	Kyrgyzstan	0	0	1	1
	Luxembourg	0	0	1	1
	Serbia and Montenegro	0	0	1	1
	U.S. Virgin Islands	0	0	1	1
	Uruguay	0	0	1	1
Totals (110 entries)		816	831	821	2468

Championships records

Men

Event	Record	Athlete	Nation	Date	Meet	Place	Age	Ref
100 m	9.91 A (+0.8 m/s) WU20R	Letsile Tebogo	Botswana	2 August 2022	2022 Championships	Cali, Colombia	19 years, 56 days	[5]
200 m	19.96 A (-1.0 m/s)	Blessing Afrifah	Israel	4 August 2022	2022 Championships	Cali, Colombia	18 years, 282 days	[6]
		Letsile Tebogo	Botswana				19 years, 58 days
400 m	44.58 A	Anthony Pesela	Botswana	21 August 2021	2021 Championships	Nairobi, Kenya	[7]
800 m	1:43.76 A	Emmanuel Wanyonyi	Kenya	22 August 2021	2021 Championships	Nairobi, Kenya	[8]
1500 m	3:35.53	Abdalaati Iguider	Morocco	15 July 2004	2004 Championships	Grosseto, Italy
3000 m	7:42.09 A	Tadese Worku	Ethiopia	18 August 2021	2021 Championships	Nairobi, Kenya	[9]
5000 m	13:08.57	Abreham Cherkos	Ethiopia	13 July 2008	2008 Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland
110 m hurdles (0.99 m)	12.72 A (+1.0 m/s) WJR	Sasha Zhoya	France	21 August 2021	2021 Championships	Nairobi, Kenya	[10]
400 m hurdles	48.51	Kerron Clement	United States	16 July 2004	2004 Championships	Grosseto, Italy
3000 m steeplechase	8:06.10	Conseslus Kipruto	Kenya	15 July 2012	2012 Championships	Barcelona, Spain	[11]
High jump	2.37 m WJR	Dragutin Topić	Yugoslavia	12 August 1990	1990 Championships	Plovdiv, Bulgaria
		Steve Smith	Great Britain	20 September 1992	1992 Championships	Seoul, South Korea
Pole vault	5.82 m	Armand Duplantis	Sweden	14 July 2018	2018 Championships	Tampere, Finland	[12]
Long jump	8.20 m (+1.4 m/s)	James Stallworth	United States	9 August 1990	1990 Championships	Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Triple jump	17.27 m A (0.0 m/s)	Jaydon Hibbert	Jamaica	5 August 2022	2022 Championships	Cali, Colombia	17 years, 200 days	[13]
Shot put (6 kg)	22.20 m	Jacko Gill	New Zealand	11 July 2012	2012 Championships	Barcelona, Spain
	22.30 m X	Andrei Toader	Romania	19 July 2016	2016 Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	[14]
	23.34 m X[15]	Konrad Bukowiecki	Poland	19 July 2016	2016 Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	[16]
Discus throw (1.75 kg)	69.81 m A	Mykolas Alekna	Lithuania	22 August 2021	2021 Championships	Nairobi, Kenya	[17]
Hammer throw (6 kg)	85.57 m WJR	Ashraf Amgad Elseify	Qatar	14 July 2012	2012 Championships	Barcelona, Spain	[18]
Javelin throw	86.48 m WJR	Neeraj Chopra	India	23 July 2016	2016 Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	[19]
Decathlon	8190 pts	Ashley Moloney	Australia	10–11 July 2018	2018 Championships	Tampere, Finland	[20]
	100m (wind) Long jump (wind) Shot put High jump 400m 110H (wind) Discus Pole vault Javelin 1500m 10.51 (−0.3 m/s) 7.06 m (+1.1 m/s) 12.83 m (6 kg) 2.10 m 46.86 14.13 (−0.3 m/s) (0.99 m) 47.39 m (1.750 kg) 4.60 m 53.67 m 4:42.65
10000 m walk (track)	39:27.19	Daisuke Matsunaga	Japan	25 July 2014	2014 Championships	Eugene, United States	[21]
4 × 100 m relay	38.51 A WU20R	Mihlali Xhotyeni Sinesipho Dambile Letlhogonolo Moleyane Benjamin Richardson	South Africa	22 August 2021	2021 Championships	Nairobi, Kenya	[22]
4 × 400 m relay	3:01.09 WJR	Brandon Johnson LaShawn Merritt Jason Craig Kerron Clement	United States	18 July 2004	2004 Championships	Grosseto, Italy

Decathlon disciplines

Event	Record	Score	Athlete	Nation	Date	Meet	Place	Age	Ref
100 m	10.51 (−0.3 m/s)	973 pts	Ashley Moloney	Australia	10 July 2018	2018 Championships	Tampere, Finland	18 years, 119 days	[23]
Long jump	7.74 m (+1.2 m/s)	995 pts	Cedric Dubler	Australia	22 July 2014	2014 Championships	Eugene, United States	19 years, 190 days
Shot put (6 kg)	16.51 m	883 pts	Yordanis García	Cuba	16 August 2006	2006 Championships	Beijing, China	17 years, 268 days	[24]
High jump	2.10 m	896 pts	Ashley Moloney	Australia	10 July 2018	2018 Championships	Tampere, Finland	18 years, 119 days	[25]
400 m	46.86	965 pts	Ashley Moloney	Australia	10 July 2018	2018 Championships	Tampere, Finland	18 years, 119 days	[26]
110 m hurdles (0.99 m)	13.74 (−0.3 m/s)	1008 pts	Ayden Owens	Puerto Rico	11 July 2018	2018 Championships	Tampere, Finland	18 years, 44 days	[27]
Discus throw (1.750 kg)	51.67 m	905 pts	Santiago Ford	Cuba	20 July 2016	2016 Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland
Pole vault	5.00 m	910 pts	Ilya Shkurenev	Russia	21 July 2010	2010 Championships	Moncton, Canada
			Mathias Ako	France	23 July 2014	2014 Championships	Eugene, United States
Javelin throw	71.59 m	914 pts	Niklas Kaul	Germany	20 July 2016	2016 Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	18 years, 160 days	[28]
1500 m	4:21.35	802 pts	Kevin Mayer	France	21 July 2010	2010 Championships	Moncton, Canada

Defunct events

Event	Record	Athlete	Nation	Date	Meet	Place	Ref
10000 m	27:21.08	Rhonex Kipruto	Kenya	10 July 2018	2018 Championships	Tampere, Finland	[29]
20 kilometres road run	59:27	Metaferia Zeleke	Ethiopia	31 July 1988	1988 Championships	Sudbury, Canada	[30]
2000 m steeplechase	5:28.56	Jon Azkueta	Spain	20 July 1986	1986 Championships	Athens, Greece	[30]

Women

Event	Record	Athlete	Nation	Date	Meet	Place	Age	Ref
100 m	10.95 A (-0.1 m/s)	Tina Clayton	Jamaica	3 August 2022	2022 Championships	Cali, Colombia	17 years, 351 days	[31]
200 m	21.84 A (+1.1 m/s)	Christine Mboma	Namibia	21 August 2021	2021 Championships	Nairobi, Kenya	[32]
400 m	50.50	Ashley Spencer	United States	13 July 2012	2012 Championships	Barcelona, Spain	[33]
800 m	1:59.13 A	Roisin Willis	United States	3 August 2022	2022 Championships	Cali, Colombia	17 years, 362 days	[34]
1500 m	4:04.27 A	Birke Haylom	Ethiopia	6 August 2022	2022 Championships	Cali, Colombia	16 years, 212 days	[35]
3000 m	8:41.76	Beyenu Degefa	Ethiopia	20 July 2016	2016 Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	[36]
5000 m	15:08.06	Genzebe Dibaba	Ethiopia	21 July 2010	2010 Championships	Moncton, Canada	[37]
100 m hurdles	12.77 A (+0.2 m/s)	Kerrica Hill	Jamaica	6 August 2022	2022 Championships	Cali, Colombia	17 years, 153 days	[38]
400 m hurdles	54.70	Lashinda Demus	United States	19 July 2002	2002 Championships	Kingston, Jamaica
3000 m steeplechase	9:12.78	Celliphine Chepteek Chespol	Kenya	13 July 2018	2018 Championships	Tampere, Finland	[39]
High jump	2.00 m	Alina Astafei	Romania	29 July 1988	1988 Championships	Sudbury, Canada
Pole vault	4.55 m	Angelica Moser	Switzerland	21 July 2016	2016 Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	[40]
Long jump	6.82 m (+1.7 m/s)	Fiona May	Great Britain	30 July 1988	1988 Championships	Sudbury, Canada
Triple jump	14.62 m (+1.0 m/s) WJR	Tereza Marinova	Bulgaria	25 August 1996	1996 Championships	Sydney, Australia
Shot put	18.76 m	Cheng Xiaoyan	China	21 July 1994	1994 Championships	Lisbon, Portugal
Discus throw	68.24 m	Ilke Wyludda	East Germany	31 July 1988	1988 Championships	Sudbury, Canada
Hammer throw	71.64 m A	Silja Kosonen	Finland	21 August 2021	2021 Championships	Nairobi, Kenya	[41]
Javelin throw	63.52 m A	Adriana Vilagoš	Serbia	2 August 2022	2022 Championships	Cali, Colombia	18 years, 212 days	[42]
Heptathlon	6470 pts	Carolina Klüft	Sweden	19–20 July 2002	2002 Championships	Kingston, Jamaica
	100m H (wind) High jump Shot put 200m (wind) Long jump (wind) Javelin 800m 13.53 (+1.2 m/s) 1.92 m 12.18 m 23.81 (+0.2 m/s) 6.19 m (+0.0 m/s) 46.83 m 2:13.55
10000 m walk (track)	42:47.25 WJR	Anežka Drahotová	Czech Republic	23 July 2014	2014 Championships	Eugene, United States	[43]
4 × 100 m relay	42.59 A WU20R	Serena Cole Tina Clayton Kerrica Hill Tia Clayton	Jamaica	5 August 2022	2022 Championships	Cali, Colombia	18 years, 40 days 17 years, 353 days 17 years, 352 days	[44]
4 × 400 m relay	3:27.60 WJR	Alexandria Anderson Ashlee Kidd Stephanie Smith Natasha Hastings	United States	18 July 2004	2004 Championships	Grosseto, Italy

Heptathlon disciplines

Event	Record	Score	Athlete	Nation	Date	Meet	Place	Age	Ref
100 m hurdles	13.24 (+1.1 m/s)	1089 pts	Nadine Visser	Netherlands	22 July 2014	2014 Championships	Eugene, United States
High jump	1.94 m	1158 pts	Morgan Lake	Great Britain	22 July 2014	2014 Championships	Eugene, United States
Shot put	14.38 m	819 pts	Sarah Lagger	Austria	12 July 2018	2018 Championships	Tampere, Finland	18 years, 312 days	[45]
200 m	23.78 (−1.6 m/s)	1002 pts	Svetla Dimitrova	Bulgaria	29 July 1988	1988 Championships	Sudbury, Canada
Long jump	6.35 m (−0.4 m/s)	959 pts	Tatyana Chernova	Russia	16 August 2006	2006 Championships	Beijing, China
Javelin throw	54.16 m	941 pts	Justine Robbeson	South Africa	17 July 2004	2004 Championships	Grosseto, Italy
800 m	2:09.37	974 pts	Agathe Guillemot	France	13 July 2018	2018 Championships	Tampere, Finland	19 years, 2 days	[46]

Defunct event

Event	Record	Athlete	Nation	Date	Meet	Place	Ref
10000 m	32:29.90	Wang Junxia	China	19 September 1992	1992 Championships	Seoul, South Korea	[30]

Mixed

Event	Record	Athlete	Nation	Date	Meet	Place	Age	Ref
4 × 400 m relay	3:17.69 A	Charlie Batholomew Madison Whyte Will Sumner Kennedy Wade	United States	2 August 2022	2022 Championships	Cali, Colombia		[47]

Disqualifications

Doping

Several athletes have been stripped of medals due to doping.^[3]

Athlete	Nation	Sex	Event	Result	Year
Juan Miguel López	Cuba	Men	Triple jump	Silver	1986
Vladyslav Piskunov	Ukraine	Men	Hammer throw	Gold	1994
Seema Antil	India	Women	Discus throw	Gold	2000
Katsiaryna Artsiukh	Belarus	Women	400 metres hurdles	Gold	2010
Geisa Arcanjo	Brazil	Women	Shot put	Gold	2010
Konrad Bukowiecki	Poland	Men	Shot put	Gold	2016
Andrei Toader	Romania			Silver
Adel Jaber Al-Asseri	Saudi Arabia	Men	200 metres		2008
Jacek Wiśniewski	Poland	Men	Shot put	11th	2010
Aslı Çakir	Turkey	Women	3000 metres steeplechase, 4 × 400 metres relay	6th	2004
Renubala Mahanta	India	Women	Long jump	10th (q)	2010

Title defenses

Given the age limitations on the competition it is rare that athletes get the opportunity to defend previous individual titles. A total of 22 athletes have managed this feat, eight of them men and fourteen women.^[3] In addition to this Anita Weyermann won the 3000 m title after taking the 1500 m title two years earlier.

Men

Athlete	Nation	Event	Years
Wilfred Kirochi	Kenya	1500 metres	1986–88
Dexter Lee	Jamaica	100 metres	2008–10
Jonathan Ndiku	Kenya	3000 metres steeplechase	2008–10
Jacko Gill	New Zealand	Shot put	2010–12
Ashraf Amgad Elseify	Qatar	Hammer throw	2012–14
Jaheel Hyde	Jamaica	400 metres hurdles	2014–16
Lázaro Martínez	Cuba	Triple jump	2014–16
Erwan Konate	France	Long jump	2021–22
Letsile Tebogo	Botswana	100 metres	2021–22

Women

Athlete	Nation	Event	Years
Svetla Dimitrova	Bulgaria	Heptathlon	1986–88
Ilke Wyludda	East Germany	Discus throw	1986–88
Gillian Russell	Jamaica	100 metres hurdles	1990–92
Irina Stankina	Russia	5000 metres walk	1994–96
Osleidys Menéndez	Cuba	Javelin throw	1996–98
Blanka Vlašić	Croatia	High jump	2000–02
Ivana Brkljačić	Croatia	Hammer throw	2000–02
Carolina Klüft	Sweden	Heptathlon	2000–02
Ma Xuejun	China	Discus throw	2002–04
Bianca Perie	Romania	Hammer throw	2006–08
Mirela Lavric	Romania	800 metres	2008–10
Mercy Cherono	Kenya	3000 metres	2008–10
Dailenys Alcántara	Cuba	Triple jump	2008–10
Angelica Bengtsson	Sweden	Pole vault	2010–12
Adriana Vilagoš	Serbia	Javelin	2021–22
Miné De Klerk	South Africa	Shop put	2021–22
Tina Clayton	Jamaica	100 metres	2021–22
Saga Vanninen	Finland	Heptathlon	2021–22

Doubles

A total of fifteen athletes have won two individual titles at the same championships (nine men, six women). The majority of these are sprint or long-distance combinations, although Andrew Howe (200 m and long jump), Margus Hunt (discus throw and shot put) and Morgan Lake (high jump and heptathlon) managed to win novel doubles.^[3] Many others achieved a double between an individual victory and being a member of a winning relay team.

Men

Athlete	Nation	Events	Year
Peter Chumba	Kenya	5000 metres, 10,000 metres	1986
Ato Boldon	Trinidad and Tobago	100 metres, 200 metres	1992
Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia	5000 metres, 10,000 metres	1992
Daniel Komen	Kenya	5000 metres, 10,000 metres	1994
Francis Obikwelu	Nigeria	100 metres, 200 metres	1996
Assefa Mezgebu	Ethiopia	5000 metres, 10,000 metres	1996
Christian Malcolm	United Kingdom	100 metres, 200 metres	1998
Andrew Howe	Italy	200 metres, long jump	2004
Margus Hunt	Estonia	Discus throw, shot put	2006

Women

Athlete	Nation	Events	Year
Yin Lili	China	3000 metres, 5000 metres	1998
Veronica Campbell	Jamaica	100 metres, 200 metres	2000
Meseret Defar	Ethiopia	3000 metres, 5000 metres	2002
Tezdzhan Naimova	Bulgaria	100 metres, 200 metres	2006
Anthonique Strachan	Bahamas	100 metres, 200 metres	2012
Morgan Lake	Great Britain	High jump, heptathlon	2014
Briana Williams	Jamaica	100 metres, 200 metres	2018[48]
Maja Åskag	Sweden	Long jump, triple jump	2021

See also

• World Para Athletics Junior Championships

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to World Junior Championships in Athletics.

• Official website
• Overview of the championships
• List of medallists at gbrathletics.com
• World Athletics U20 Championships Facts and Figures Statistics handbook for Cali 22