Thrilling finishes highlight Day 3 of World Athletics U20 meet

South Africa’s dominance in the men’s 400 meters came to an end Aug. 7, and it should be no surprise who ended it.

American Jayden DeLeon soared past South Africa’s Leedert Koekemoer down the homestretch and held off a late charge by teen prodigy Quincy Wilson to win gold on day three of the World Athletics U20 Championships at Hayward Field.

DeLeon, who also defeated Wilson at the USATF U20 Championships at Hayward Field in June, ran a World U20 Championships meet record of 44.47 seconds to win the gold medal.

Wilson took silver with a season-best time of 44.62, and Koekemoer bronze in 44.96.

“Man, this means the world to me,” DeLeon said. “It’s been a long, struggling road … and my training has been perfect.”

For Wilson, a 2024 Paris Olympian at 16 who won gold on the U.S. 4x400 relay team, the silver medal around his neck after the race was the first individual medal of his career.

“That last 100, I really felt like I was doing my big one,” Wilson said about giving it his all to reel in both Koekemoer and DeLeon.

Before DeLeon and Wilson chased him down, there was a moment when it looked like Koekemoer was going to get a three-peat for South Africa, which had won gold in the 400 at the last two World U20 meets – Lythe Pillay in Cali, Columbia in 2022 and Udeme Okon in Lima, Peru in 2024.

Brown dominates 110 hurdles rounds

Le’Ezra Brown broke his own American U20 record when he ran 12.89 in the preliminaries Friday morning. His previous record was 12.95 from the USATF U20 meet in June at Hayward Field.

He came back to clock a wind-aided 12.82 (+2.7) in the semifinals during the evening session to qualify for Saturday’s final.

“I gotta set the tone,” Brown said.

Brown was seen limping and rubbing his left knee and calf area after crossing the finish line in his semifinal heat. Afterwards, the U.S. U20 champion said it was just a little “misstep. I’ll be good.”

The fastest wind-legal time in the semifinals was produced by Japan’s Jeremy Koga, who ran 12.95. American Zacchaeus Brocks also ran 13.00.

In the women’s 100 hurdle semifinals, South Africa’s Tumi Ramokgopa and Jamaica’s Tiana Marshall each ran 13.02 to lead the field. American Madeline Cooper, the world U20 season leader, ran 13.14 to also qualify for Saturday’s final.

Thrilling finish in men’s triple jump final

Future Kansas State teammates dueled to the final jump before Michael-Andre Matthew Edwards was declared world champion.

Edwards capped a thrilling finish when he recorded a mark of 56 feet, ½ inch on the penultimate attempt of the competition to move ahead of American Mile Nesmith, who had taken the lead on his fifth jump when he went a PR 55-1.

"It feels bitter sweet, honestly," Nesmith said. "I was proud to go out there and perform the best I ever did but I wanted the gold and I came up a little short, but proud of myself that I competed."

China’s Zhuoyue Wang won bronze with a mark of 53-8¼.

U.S. 100 champions advance to the 200 final

Thursday night, Tate Taylor and Mia Maxwell became the first pair of Americans to win the World U20 titles in the same year since 2016.

Friday, both qualified with ease for their respective finals in the 200.

They’ll be facing some of the same faces Saturday as they did two days earlier.

Taylor had the fastest time during Friday’s men's semifinal heats as he ran 20.34. American Blake Hamilton ran 20.38 to win his heat in the second fastest time. Jamaica’s Gary Card also qualified for the finals in 20.64. Card is the world U20 leader and was the silver medalist in the 100 Thursday.

Maxwell won her women's semifinal heat in 22.87, but that time wasn’t close to being the fastest. World leader Shanoya Douglas of Jamaica, who won silver in the 100, also won her 200 heat in 22.53 with U.S. U20 champion Mariah Maxwell (22.78) not far behind.

Jamaica’s Sashana Johnson and Italy’s Margherita Castellani also cracked the 23-second barrier as Johnson ran a PR 22.92 and Castellani set her nation's U20 record with a 22.99.

Other notable results Friday

Men’s hammer final: China’s Jiawei Chen won with a mark of 259-8. American Kayden Hulet, who will be freshman at Ole Miss next year, launched a PR 254-5 to get silver and Great Britain’s Wyatt Larkins also set a PR of 247-3 to get bronze.

Women’s 3,000 steeple final: Almaz Yohannis of Ethiopia dominated the field with her win in 9:15.81 – almost 15 seconds ahead of countrywoman Wosane Asefa, who took silver in 9:30.50. Kenya’s Anatasha Cheptoo was the bronze medalist in 9:37.18.

Men’s javelin final: : Jan-Hendrik Heymans of South Africa could’ve won the competition with any six of his throws, but it was his final toss that counted in the standings as his world U20-leading 264-1 was by far the best of the night. India’s Ashish Yadav was second with a mark of 243-1, and Addison James of Dominica was third with a national record of 242-5.

Men’s 3K final: Kenya’s Emmanuel Kiprono ran away from the field to win in 7:28.28. France’s Alois Abraham won silver in 7:47.79 and Japan’s Ojiro Honda was the bronze medalist in 7:48.49, which is a national record.

Women’s 400 final: Anastazja Kus of Poland ran a national record 51.06 to win the world title ahead of American Ataja Stephane-Vazquez (51.36) and Tianna Springer (51.76) of Guyana.

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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