On your marks… The World Athletics U20 Championships Lima 24 begin on Tuesday (27), with around 1700 athletes from over 130 teams competing for age-group honours.
Here are just three of the many events scheduled for day one at the Estadio Atletico de la Videna.
The first champion was crowned
The first day of competition in Lima has four finals, with the victor of the women’s 5000m being proclaimed the inaugural champion.
Medina Eisa of Ethiopia defends the title she won in Cali in 2022, following a seventh-place performance at the Olympics. She starts as the favourite, having run 14:16.54 – the fastest time ever by a U20 athlete – in London last year and winning the Marrakech Diamond League in May.
Her colleague Mekedes Alemeshete, who won the Suzhou Diamond League in April in 14:36.70, is expected to be her toughest threat, while Kenya’s Sheila Jebet and Mercy Chepkemoi are also medal possibilities.
The men’s 5000m championship will also be decided on day one, with Kenya’s Andrew Kiptoo Alamisi leading the entry list.
Field focuses on shot put
The men’s shot put is the first field final of the championships, with Dutch U20 record holder Yannick Rolvink leading the entry list by more than a metre. He threw 21.81m with the 6kg implement last month and has surpassed 19m in eight other competitions this year.
He looks tough to beat if near his top form, but US U20 champion Ben Smith will be on the hunt for another medal for his nation following the title win by his compatriot Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan in Cali two years ago. Others with medal ambitions, should they all progress safely through qualification, include Germany’s Georg Harpf and Finland’s Aatu Kangasniemi.
Teamwork makes the dream work
Two years ago in Cali, the United States won the mixed 4x400m in 3:17.69, setting a global U20 record. In Lima, Australia dominated the heats, with Jordan Gilbert, Bella Pasquali, Jack Deguara, and Sophia Gregorevic setting an Oceanian U20 record of 3:21.10.
India, which won silver in Cali and bronze in the discipline’s debut at the World U20 Championships in Nairobi in 2021, will be looking for another medal, as will Poland.
Individual sprint action begins earlier in the day, with Paris Olympians Alana Reid and Bradley Nkoana competing in the 100m heats.
Nkoana was part of South Africa’s silver medal-winning men’s 4x100m squad in Paris, and Reid helped Jamaica place fifth in the women’s 4x100m.
