Championship records were set by Emmanuel Kiprono and Jayden Deleon on the third evening of the World Athletics U20 Championships Oregon 26 on Friday, August 8, 2026.
Kenya’s Kiprono stole the show in a 3000m full of lifetime bests, setting a championship record and moving to second on the world U20 all-time list with 7:28.28.
He was just 0.09 off the world U20 record set by Yomif Kejelcha – now the senior world record-holder in the 10km and half marathon – in Paris in 2016.
Some 20 seconds later, France’s Alois Abraham finished second to clinch silver in 7:47.79. The bronze medal went to Ojiro Honda, setting a Japanese U20 record of 7:48.49.
The next eight finishers all set PBs, including Chien Tzu-Chieh who ran a national U20 record of 7:51.18 for Chinese Taipei, finishing sixth.
Kiprono had been determined to go for gold after getting U20 silver at the World Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee in January.
“I went back to training, did well, and got a chance to represent Kenya at the World Championships. I am so excited that it worked for me today and I won the gold medal,” he said.
“When I woke up this morning, I was feeling so good and I knew something special was coming. I am going to train and prepare for the 2028 Olympics,” he added.
Deleon wins at Hayward again
USA’s Deleon also set a championship record, running 44.47 to win the 400m and once again gain victory over Olympian Quincy Wilson.
Just two months ago, the pair respectively finished first and second at the US U20 Championships on the same track.
Wilson improved to a season’s best of 44.62 on Friday, but it wasn’t enough to get revenge on Deleon. South African U20 record-holder Leendert Koekemoer became the fourth man from his country to reach the 400m podium during the past four World U20 Championships, clocking 44.96 to continue his country’s impressive dynasty in the discipline.
Ethiopia shows up big in the steeplechase
Meanwhile, the Ethiopian duo of Almaz Yohannis and Wosane Asefa proved their country’s dominance in the steeplechase. The winning time of 9:15.81 by Yohannis is a world U20 lead and it moves her to eighth on the world U20 all-time list.
Asefa ran a season’s best of 9:30.50 for silver and Kenya’s Anatasha Cheptoo took home bronze, running 9:37.18. Unfortunately, her teammate Mercy Chepngeno Koskey, who was in fourth place, fell at the water jump on the penultimate lap and needed medical assistance.
Sweden’s Majken Söderlund Larsson and Czechia’s Ema Berková both set national records, running 9:48.01 and 9:49.06 to finish fourth and fifth, respectively.
Kuś digs deep
Poland’s Anastazja Kuś upset US favourite Ataja Stephane-Vasquez in the final 100m to take home 400m gold and set a national U20 record, breaking a 13-year-old mark set by Patrycja Wyciszkiewicz at the European U20 Championships in Italy.
Kuś’ 51.06 was the first time she dipped under 52 seconds in this competition, and it came at the perfect moment.
Stephane-Vasquez got silver for USA in 51.36. Tianna Springer became the second athlete from Guyana to ever claim a medal at the World U20 Championships.
The first was also won in the women’s 400m, in 2012.
