The crowds might have been non-existent but, as Cathal Dennehy witnessed, the World Under-20 Athletics Championships in Lima provided plenty of evidence that the sport is in safe hands
If you’re ever in doubt about the future of athletics, this event is always the perfect antidote. For many, this year’s World Under-20 Championships might have slipped by without a second glance, sandwiched as it was amid major one-day meetings at a point in the season when many athletes – and fans – were running on fumes.
But this year’s edition, held in Lima, Peru in the last week of August, once again showed that the sport’s future is in safe hands as the Paris Olympics fade from view and attention turns to Tokyo 2025 and Los Angeles 2028.
Before we get to the positives, let’s get one negative out of the way: the crowds were non-existent. For most of the week, the only people in the stands were athletes, coaches and team staff, along with a handful of athletes’ parents.
This was the sixth World U20s I’ve attended, going back to Eugene 2014, and it had by far the worst turnout. In Budapest last year, World Athletics President Seb Coe said the sport “can’t afford to have empty stadiums” given it “makes you look marginal” and while he was speaking about senior events, the principle applies at this level.
World U20 Championships (Oscar Munoz Badilla)
The local organising committee got lots right, but failed to properly promote among the city’s population – all 10 million of them – that the world’s best teenage athletes were competing on their doorstep. The lack of effort to get bums on seats meant many finals played out amid a funereal atmosphere. The athletes, many of whom will never compete at a higher level than this, deserved better.
When taking an event like this to a new place like Lima, it’s vital to 1) promote it properly and 2) charge little (or preferably nothing) for locals to attend. And if, in the final weeks, it still looks like very few will show up, then engage with local schools to fill those seats with students. Put on free buses to the stadium. Make it a fun day out. What kid wouldn’t prefer to watch the future Olympic stars than do algebra?
My abiding memory of the previous edition in Cali was the horde of youngsters screaming their lungs out for any and all nations, especially Colombians. Whatever they did to make that happen should have been copied and pasted here, and elsewhere.
Lima had never hosted an event of this size in a single sport, with a record entry of 1700 athletes from over 130 teams. And overall, it proved a success. Back in April, USA Track and Field said they wouldn’t send a team, the first reason cited being safety, which was as laughable then as it is now, given Peru is at the same risk level for the US State Department as France and Britain (and I don’t recall any such talk before the Olympics).
Ja’Kobe Tharp [C] (Oscar Munoz Badilla)
Thankfully, USATF realised that that and the other two reasons they listed (competitive readiness and the event date) didn’t really fly and backtracked on the decision, with the vast majority of the world’s best teenage athletes from the US and around the globe showing up in Lima.
Anyone who follows these age group championships knows the odds are stacked against the success being replicated at senior level, given athletes will soon head into an open category where the competitive pool is so much deeper and where they must navigate the many minefields that could detonate their potential. Many of the champions from Lima will, unfortunately, either burn out or fade away. But, on the flipside, many athletes who finished down the field will go on to win world and Olympic medals.
With all the usual caveats considered, though, there remains no better event to signpost the stars of the future. The great thing about paying close attention to the World U20s? In the years after, when these athletes scale the heights at senior level, you can be that annoying athletics hipster who discovered them before they were cool.
Alana Reid [C] (Oscar Munoz Badilla)
In Lima, the cold, wintry conditions meant times were often unspectacular, but there were still four championship records, six area U20 records and 288 personal bests.
Making bold predictions about teenage athletes is a surefire way to look stupid down the line, but having been trackside all week in Lima, I’m willing to do just that.
So here, in no particular order, are the 10 athletes from the class of 2024 who I think can scale the heights at senior level in the years ahead.
Lurdes Gloria Manuel [C] (Oscar Munoz Badilla)
Lurdes Gloria Manuel (Czechia)
The European U20 champion added the world U20 400m title with a stunning performance, gliding away from her peers in the final 100m to cap a season where she finished fourth in the European final, reached the Olympic semi-final in Paris and lowered her Czech U20 record to 50.52. A name we’ll hear a lot more about in the years to come.
Ja’Kobe Tharp (USA)
The 18-year-old from Tennessee, a student at Auburn University, showed why sprint hurdle experts are touting him as the next big thing, blasting a PB of 13.05 into a slight headwind (-0.5) to break the US U20 record, adding gold to his silver from this year’s NCAA Championships.
Edmund Serem (Kenya)
The captain of Team Kenya showed why he was given that responsibility in the men’s 3000m steeplechase final. The 8:15.28 he ran to win gold was a PB, but what most impressed about Serem, whose listed age is just 16, was the manner of it. He obliterated his rivals with a kick that suggests he can be the man to bring senior steeplechase titles back to Kenya over the next Olympic cycle. He’s also coached by Patrick Sang, who knows a thing or two about creating champions.
Iosif Kesidis (Cyprus)
When all six throws would have been good enough for gold, you know you’re truly dominant. So it was for the 19-year-old Kesidis in the men’s hammer, his national U20 record of 82.80m handing him the world U20 title by over seven metres. A huge margin. A huge talent.
Tomas Jarvinen (Oscar Munoz Badilla)
Tomas Jarvinen (Czechia)
Those who follow the decathlon closely had flagged the 18-year-old’s potential back in July, when Jarvinen racked up a PB of 7461 points despite no-heighting in the pole vault at the Czech U20 Championships. In Lima, he made no such mistakes and announced his vast ability, racking up a remarkable 8425 points in cold conditions to smash the championship record and come up just 10 points shy of Niklas Kaul’s world U20 record.
Alana Reid (Jamaica)
The Jamaican production line of champion sprinters looked in full working order as Reid – who now trains in Florida under coach Dennis Mitchell and alongside Sha’Carri Richardson – blasted to victory in the women’s 100m in 11.17. She then anchored Jamaica to 4x100m gold. A 10.92 athlete at her best, she should go much quicker in the years ahead.
Angelina Topic (Serbia)
Having cleared 1.98m earlier this year, and claimed European silver in Rome, the 19-year-old Serbian high jumper might have seemed a lock for gold in Lima. But she came in with huge doubts after breaking her foot while qualifying for the Olympic final in Paris. She barely trained between that event and Lima but proved the permanency of her class by soaring over 1.91m to win her first global title.
Sarah Moraa (Oscar Munoz Badilla)
Sarah Moraa (Kenya)
You know the surname, and the tactics, and in Lima Sarah Moraa looked a whole lot like her more accomplished cousin, Mary. She seized command of the women’s 800m final, powering to the front after 200m, slowing the race down before winding it up again to fend off all challengers and strike gold in 2:00.36.
Ziyi Yan (China)
One of the most dominant performances of the week was in the women’s javelin where 16-year-old Ziyi Yan lived up to her favourite’s billing, launching a 63.05m throw to take gold by almost nine metres. Nine! She threw a world U20 record in April of 64.28m. Gold in Lima might be just the beginning.
Bayanda Walaza (South Africa)
Having helped his nation to Olympic 4x100m silver medals in Paris, you’d think the season couldn’t get much better for the 18-year-old. But, in Lima, Balaza swept to the 100m-200m double in 10.19 and 20.52. Ignore the moderate times, these were not good sprinting conditions.
What mattered is Walaza – whose technique looks to have much room for improvement in the years to come – showed both immense class and composure to defeat the world’s fastest under-20s over two distances. A bright future beckons.
» This article first appeared in the October issue of AW magazine. Subscribe to AW magazine here, check out our new podcast here or sign up to our digital archive of back issues from 1945 to the present day here
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