Team USA dominates sprints and hurdles at World U20 Championships

Tate Taylor and Mia Maxwell made history Aug. 8, becoming the first athletes from the same country to sweep the 100- and 200-meter titles at the World Athletics U20 Championships track and field meet.

The two sprinters from Texas were adorned in gold for the second time in the last three days as they each won their respective 200 finals Saturday during the fourth day of the five-day meet at Hayward Field. Both won their 100 golds on Thursday.

“More to come, better to come,” Maxwell said. “This is just the beginning of what me and Tate and all the Americans' future in the sport is, so I’m excited to see what the future holds.”

Taylor won the men's 200 in a meet-record 19.83 seconds, with silver going to fellow American Blake Hamilton (20.31) and bronze going to Jayden Green (20.55) of Barbados.

“To go out there and execute the way I wanted to, felt pretty good,” Taylor said.

A second-place finish capped a surprisingly successful track season for Hamilton, who will soon be joining Southern California’s football team for fall camp as a wide receiver.

“I mean, this silver means everything,” Hamilton said. “(Going from) four months ago not really thinking about track to becoming No. 2 in the world is really big.”

Maxwell won the women's 200 in a personal-record 22.37, with world season-leading Shanoya Douglas of Jamaica earning silver in 22.68 and Mia's twin sister Mariah Maxwell getting the bronze in 22.77.

“The 200 is a little bit out of my comfort zone since I’m a little bit used to running the 100 more,” Mia Maxwell said. “But coming into the 200, I definitely had to come in with a different mindset and not get too comfortable off my win in the 100. I’m glad that I executed everything well. ... I’m really tired.”

Georgia Bulldogs sweep hurdle titles

“Go Dawgs!” Madeline Cooper shouted with a big smile and a gold medal dangling around her neck.

It indeed was quite the night in the hurdles for the Georgia track team.

Cooper and Bulldog teammate Le’Ezra Brown swept the women’s 100 and men’s 110 hurdles, respectively, with Brown also tying the world U20 record.

“It’s crazy,” Brown beamed. “I didn’t know it was gonna be that fast.”

Brown finished in 12.72, comfortably ahead of silver medalist Jeremy Koga (12.97) of Japan and fellow Team USA member Zacchaeus Brocks, who equaled his PR at 12.98 for bronze.

“I knew I could do it,” Brown said. “ I didn’t want to say it in an interview because I wanted to stay humble, but in my mind I was like, ‘ I’m gonna go get it.’ I didn’t have a great a start and I was like oh my God they’re gone, but my top end is crazy, as you see.”

Brown’s victory came not long after Cooper schooled the women’s field with her win in 12.91.

“Man, we’ve been talking about this since after nationals and we did it,” said Brown, who was a freshman last season with Cooper. “I can’t wait to see her. We probably gonna scream, yell, it don’t matter. I’m proud of her.”

Cooper’s winning time equaled her world U20 lead. South Africa’s Tumi Rankgopa was second in 12.96 and Jamaica’s Tiana Marshall set a PR with her bronze-medal finish in 12.97.

“I just really had to be like, you know what, I’m the world lead, I have to trust mt abilities,” Cooper said. “I know what I can do. I just ran out there. I just ran like it was a regular race. I just forgot about all the cameras, forgot about all the people here, all the pressure, and I just let it all go.”

Other notable results Saturday

Men’s 800 final: Imad Bouchajda of Morocco shot to the front with 200 to go and held on to win gold in 1:44.64. Austrailia’s Daniel Williams was second in 1:45.36 and Spain’s Alejandro Rios third in a PR 1:46.25.

Women’s 3,000 final: Ethiopia’s Yordanos Tsigab and Shito Gumi won gold and silver, respectively. Tsigab crossed in a PR 8:43.95 and Gumi in 8:45.06. The bronze went to Uganda’s Charity Cherop, the 3,000 gold medalist from Wednesday.

Women’s 800 final: Poland’s Ziva Remic and Greece’s Ioulianna Roussou ran side-by-side down the homestretch with Remic winning by a step at the finish line in 2:03.03 to 2:03.08. Great Britain’s Shaikira King took bronze in 2:03.52.

Men’s long jump final: Daniele Leonardop Inzoli won gold with a mark of 26 feet, 1¾ inches, but Australian Mason McGroder made him sweat when he went a PR 26-1½ on his final jump to claim silver. India’s Shahnavaz Khan was third at 25-8¾.

Men’s high jump final: All three medalists cleared the same height (7-3) but it was Algeria’s Younes Ayachi with the fewest misses en route to a gold medal. India’s Basant claimed the silver and Great Britain’s Otis Poole earned the bronze.

Women’s pole vault final:  Nicole Krutilova was the winner with a clearance of 14-7¼. Ukraine’s Olha Belchenko cleared 14-5¼ to win silver and American Kylie Neira cleared 14-3¼ to win bronze.

Decathlon final: Sweden’s Liam Belo Da Silva took the title with an 8,112-point performance. Mikai Snoek of the Netherlands was second with a PR 7,887 points and Adam Julis of Czechia was third with a PR 7,877 points.

Mixed 4x100 relay final: Italy won the gold medal with a time of 41.21 and Great Britain’s Sophie Thomas outleaned American Ava Kitchings in a photo finish for silver, 41.38 to 41.39.

Men’s discus prelims: Incoming Oregon freshman and reigning U.S. U20 champion Simon Rosselli advanced to Sunday’s final with mark of 199-7 on his one and only attempt.

Women’s 400 hurdle semifinals: U.S. U20 champion Natalie Dumas tripped over a hurdle and crashed as the race was entering the homestretch. She still finished the race but was ninth in her heat in 1:11.76. One of two captains for Team USA, Dumas won gold in the mixed 4x400 relay earlier this week.

Chris Hansen covers University of Oregon football, men’s basketball, track and field, cross country and softball for The Register-Guard. You can reach him at [email protected]  and you can follow him on X @chansen_RG

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