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 sports, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and racewalking ...

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 fo ...

, 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 Chris Nelloms (born August 14, 1971) is an American male former track and field sprinter who specialized in the 200- and 400-meter dash. Early life Nelloms attended Dunbar High School in Dayton and set several high school records. He originally ...

, Davidson Ezinwa and Dexter Lee share the position of most successful male athlete, at four medals each.

Championships

The 2016 Championships were due to be held in Kazan,

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-eigh ...

until the IAAF's suspension of the All-Russia Athletic Federation, 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'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 The World Athletics U20 Championships is a biennial world championships for the sport of athletics organised by the World Athletics, contested by athletes in the under-20 athletics age category (19 years old or younger on 31 December in the year ...

U20 Under-20 athletics competitions World youth sports competitions Biennial athletics competitions