The World Athletics U20 Championships is a biennial world championships for the

sport of athletics Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and racewalking. The results of ...

organised by the

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

, contested by athletes in the under-20 athletics age category (19 years old or younger on 31 December in the year of the competition. The competition was launched as the IAAF World Junior Championships in Athletics in 1986 and renamed to IAAF World U20 Championships in November 2015. The current name was adapted with the name change of the sports governing body in 2019. Anneisha McLaughlin-Whilby is the most successful athlete at the championships, having won one gold and four silver in individual and relay sprinting events between 2000 and 2004. Chris Nelloms,

Davidson Ezinwa Davidson Ezinwa (born 22 November 1971) is a former sprinter from Nigeria. He won a silver medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics as well as a silver medal at the 1997 World Championships, both in 4 x 100 metres relay. He also won a 60 metres si ...

and

Dexter Lee Dexter Lee (born 18 January 1991) is a Jamaican sprinter who specialises in the 100 and 200 metres. He became the first athlete to win back-to-back titles at World Junior Championships in Athletics when he won the 100 metres in 2008 and 2010. ...

share the position of most successful male athlete, at four medals each.

Championships

The 2016 Championships were due to be held in

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...

until the IAAF's

suspension Suspension or suspended may refer to: Science and engineering * Suspension (topology), in mathematics * Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics * Suspension of a ring, in mathematics * Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspen ...

of the

All-Russia Athletic Federation The Russian Athletics Federation (RAF), previously named the All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF; russian: Всероссийская федерация лёгкой атлетики, ВФЛА), is the governing body for the sport of athletics in ...

, which prohibits Russia from hosting international competitions. This event was relocated.

All-time medal table

As of

2022 World Athletics U20 Championships The 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships, also known colloquially by its former official title, the World Junior Championships, was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born no earlier than 1 January 2003 ...

Championships records

Men

Decathlon disciplines

Defunct events

Women

Heptathlon disciplines

Defunct event

Mixed

Disqualifications

Doping

Several athletes have been stripped of medals due to doping.IAAF World Junior Championships Eugene 2014 Facts and Figures
. IAAF. Retrieved 2018-04-10.

Age falsification

Two athletes subsequently lost their medals as a result of fraudulently misstating their age on official documents: Bahrain's 2006 steeplechase silver medallist Tareq Mubarak Taher and Morocco's Ahmed Baday (1998 5000 metres bronze). In addition to this, later analysis of

Moses Kiptanui Moses Kiptanui (born 1 October 1970) is a Kenyan middle and long distance athlete mostly famous for 3,000 m steeplechase in which he was the number one ranked athlete from 1991 to 1995 and three time IAAF World Champion. Kiptanui was als ...

's age when having won the 1990 1500m showed he was marginally over age (aged 19 years, 315 days) at the time of his victory, though this result has not been rescinded.

Title defenses

Given the age limitations on the competition it is rare that athletes get the opportunity to defend previous individual titles. A total of 22 athletes have managed this feat, eight of them men and fourteen women. In addition to this Anita Weyermann won the 3000 m title after taking the 1500 m title two years earlier.

Doubles

A total of fifteen athletes have won two individual titles at the same championships (nine men, six women). The majority of these are sprint or long-distance combinations, although Andrew Howe (200 m and long jump), Margus Hunt (discus throw and shot put) and Morgan Lake (high jump and heptathlon) managed to win novel doubles. Many others achieved a double between an individual victory and being a member of a winning relay team.

References

External links

Official World Athletics U20 Championships website

Results 1986 to 2021

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{{Junior athletics Recurring sporting events established in 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics U20 Under-20 athletics competitions World youth sports competitions Biennial athletics competitions