The athletics U20 World Championships in Eugene began with a bang, as there was a CR in the 4x400m mixed relay and an athlete got lost on track in the steeplechase.
The Athletics U20 World Championships have begun, with day 1 taking place on Wednesday in Oregon of the United States. The first finals of the meet took place in the early UK morning today.
There was plenty of action to follow, with the biggest results of the evening coming in the 4x400m mixed relay, where hosts United States took gold with a competition record of 3.15,31.
The Czech Republic took silver with a time of 3.18,16, while the bronze went to Australia who ran 3.18,45. Both teams also managed to break their age group's U20 national records.
However, the most interesting situation of day 1 came surprisingly in just a heat for the women's 3000m steeplechase. The second heat was going on pretty normally, until race leader
Anatasha Cheptoo made the crowd gasp - by getting completely lost!
Losing your way at a track event is extremely rare, but that's exactly what happened to the Kenyan, as she missed the turn for the water jump. This of course lost her precious time, but more importantly she fell from 1st place beyond the top 10.
Luckily for Cheptoo it was only the beginning of the race, and she managed to rally back and finish 2nd, securing herself a place in the final. You can watch the incident from the video at the end of this newspiece below at approximately 5:45.
The men's 5000m race saw Kenya celebrate, as their athletes came home with a one-two finish.
Frankline Kibet took the World Championship title with a time of 13.28,27, while his compatriot
Nehemiah Kipgenoa (13.30,09) won the silver. Ethiopia's
Damitew Kebede took bronze with a PB of 13.35,38.
The women's 5000m gold went to Uganda's
Charity Cherop, who clocked a time of 15.03,88. The silver medal belonged to Ethiopia's
Shito Gumi (15.07,91), while the bronze went to Kenya's
Joyline Chepkemoi (15.09,08).
Meanwhile on the field, Brazil's
Alessandro Borges took gold in the shot put with a new personal best of 20,35.
Si-hoon Park of South Korea trailed Borges by just four centimeters, taking silver with 20,31. South Africa's
Jaco van Dyk took the final medal with a PB of 19,80.
Day 2 of the U20 World Championships begins at 18:00 UK time, with the highlights of the day coming in the early hours of the UK morning. The men's and women's 100m finals take place around 04:35-50.
You can check out the Day 1 full highlights of the U20 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon via the video below.
Also check out: World Athletics U20 Championships 2026 Oregon - Schedule and full timetable
You can find all the results from the U20 World Championships at
World Athletics' home page.
.jpg)
-mini.jpg)
