2016 IAAF World U20 Championships

Five Events to Follow at World Junior Championships

Five Events to Follow at World Junior Championships

By Johanna GretschelThe IAAF World U20 Championships are this week in Bydgoszcz, Poland from Tuesday, July 19 to Sunday, July 24. Learn more about five even

Jul 18, 2016 by Taylor Dutch
Five Events to Follow at World Junior Championships
By Johanna Gretschel

The IAAF World U20 Championships are this week in Bydgoszcz, Poland from Tuesday, July 19 to Sunday, July 24. Learn more about five events worth following this week, plus stay tuned for live on-site coverage!

Men's 200m

Who: Michael Norman (USA), Baboloki Thebe (Botswana), Clarence Munyai (South Africa), Nigel Ellis (JAM), Tlotliso Leotlela (South Africa), Akeem Bloomfield (JAM), Maxwell Willis (USA)
When: Heats on Thursday, July 21 @ 11:30 a.m. local time; Semi-Final on Thursday, July 21 @ 6:30 p.m. local time; Final on Friday, July 22 @ 9:30 p.m. local time
Why: USC commit Michael Norman is the top seed here, as No. 1 U-20 ranked Noah Lyles is opting for the 100m. Norman ranks No. 3 on the U.S. all-time list at 20.15 and is coming off an impressive fifth-place finish in the 200m final at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Lyles set the national high school record at 20.09 with a fourth-place finish at the Olympic Trials, but Norman could certainly lower the record further in Bydogszcz this week.

The 18-year-old California native's top competition will be Baboloki Thebe of Botswana, who has clocked impressive marks of 20.21 (+1.4) and 44.22! The 19-year-old is entered in both the 200m and 400m and Steven Mills of the IAAF indicates that he will likely choose one event to contest as both finals are on Friday evening.

Others to watch are South Africans Clarence Munyai and Tlotliso Leotlela, who are seeded at 20.36 and 20.47, respectively, as well as Jamaicans Nigel Ellis and Akeem Bloomfield, who are seeded No. 4 at 20.40 and No. 6 at 20.66. Florida State commit Maxwell Willis of the USA won silver in the 200m at the 2015 IAAF World Youth Championships and enters this event ranked No. 7 on the provisional entry list.

Michael Norman after placing fifth in the Olympic Trials 200m final:


Women's 100m

Who: Candace Hill (USA), Khalifa St. Fort (T&T), Ewa Swoboda (Poland)
When: Heats on Wednesday, July 20 @ 12:35 p.m. local time; Semi-Final on Thursday, July 21 @ 6:05 p.m. local time; Final on Thursday, July 21 @ 9:20 p.m. local time
Why: The top medalists from last summer's IAAF World Youth Championships are the leading contenders here in Candace Hill of the U.S. and Khalifa St. Fort of Trinidad and Tobago. Both athletes turned professional while in high school this year.

Though Hill has not recorded another sub-11 since her historic 10.98 to break the national high school record last year, her SB of 11.09 (+1.9) is still by far the best of the group. St. Fort enters with a new PB of 11.16 from her national championships, a performance that earned her a spot on the 4x100m relay at the Olympic Games in Rio later this summer.

Polish 18-year-old Swoboda is the hometown favorite. She ranks No. 3 behind Hill and St. Fort with her 11.18 PB, a time that set the Polish national junior record. Swoboda's most impressive accomplishment this year came in February, when she ran 7.07 for 60m to set the world indoor U20 record.


Men's 100m

Who: Abdullah Abkar Mohammed (Saudi Arabia), Noah Lyles (USA), Nigel Ellis (JAM), Filippo Tortu (Italy), Tlotliso Leotlela (South Africa), Jack Hale (AUS), Mario Burke (Barbados)
When: Heats on Tuesday, July 19 @ 12:05 p.m. local time; Semi-Final on Wednesday, July 20 @ 7:20 p.m. local time; Final on Wednesday, July 20 @ 9:35 p.m. local time
Why: American Noah Lyles hopes to keep the title in the U.S. after Kendal Williams won in 2014. The No. 4 all-time U.S. performer is ranked No. 2 here behind Saudi Arabia's Abdullah Abkar Mohammed, who has run a wind-legal 10.04 this year. Seven athletes are seeded at 10.21 or faster, including Jamaican Nigel Ellis -- who false started at the U20 national championships but won the ISSA Girls & Boys Champs in March. The PUMA sponsored athlete is also a top entrant in the 200m vs. the United States' other top male sprint medal hope, Michael Norman. 

Lyles set the national high school record holder in the 200m at 20.09 in placing fourth at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Don't be surprised if racing Mohammed pushes him under Trentavis Friday's 2014 100m national record of 10.00.

Noah Lyles after breaking the national high school record in the 200m at the Olympic Trials:


Women's 100m hurdles

Who: Oluwatobiloba Amusan (Nigeria), Tia Jones (USA), Elvira Herman (Belarus), Alexis Duncan (USA), Anna Cockrell (USA)
When: Heats on Friday, July 22 @ 9:35 a.m. local time; Semi-Final on Saturday, July 23 @ 5:15 p.m. local time; Final on Sunday, July 24 @ 4:05 p.m. local time
Why: The U.S. sends a stacked contingent to Poland in the short hurdles, as all three athletes register on the U.S. top 10 all-time list. Jones, a rising sophomore from Ga., set the national high school record at 12.84 in the semi-final round at the USATF Junior Nationals, though she placed just second to University of Texas commit Alexis Duncan in finals. Duncan ranks No. 7 on the all-time list with her PB of 13.04 and races here with a chip on her shoulder after hitting a hurdle and placing seventh at last summer's IAAF World Youth Championships after advancing through the rounds with the fastest marks. Fellow American Anna Cockrell ranks No. 10 all-time and is a consistent national performer though her main event at these championships is the 400m hurdles, which she enters as the top seed.

The top entrant here is Nigeria's Oluwatobiloba Amusan, who earned runner-up honors at the NCAA Championships this June for UTEP. Her wind-legal PB is 12.83. Elvira Herman of Belarus ranks No. 3 here with her PB of 13.03; that mark is the national U20 record and made her the European junior champion.

Alexis Duncan was in disbelief after beating national high school record holder Tia Jones to the finish line at the USATF Junior Nationals:


Women's 800m

Who: Sammy Watson (USA), Aaliyah Miller (USA), Esther Chebet (Uganda), Ruby Stauber (USA), Josephine Chelangat (Kenya), Alina Ammann (Germany), Victoria Tachinski (Canada), Betty Chepkemoi Sigei (Kenya)
When: Heats on Tuesday, July 19 @ 11:10 a.m. local time; Semi-Final on Wednesday, July 20 @ 6:45 p.m. local time; Final on Thursday, July 21 @ 8:45 p.m. local time
Why: Steven Mills of the IAAF draws a flattering comparison between Sammy Watson and fellow U.S. star Ajee Wilson, as he pegs the sixteen-year-old Watson follow Wilson's footsteps and win the IAAF World U18 and World U20 titles in back-to-back years. Wilson is now a 1:57 performer headed to the Olympic Games; it took a 2:00.91 performance to win the U20 championship in 2012 -- she is the only American to win the 800m at the World Junior level.
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Watson enters Bydgoszcz with an unblemished record against age group competition; she last competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials, where she placed third in her prelim heat and did not advance.

Watson could potentially lead a 1-2 sweep for the United States, as she and Baylor recruit Aaliyah Miller are the only entrants to break 2:03. Their marks of 2:02.91 and 2:02.96 rank No. 8 and No. 9 on the U.S. all-time list. Only twice before in meet history has a duo from one country swept the junior women's 800m: at the 1992 Seoul championship, China's Lu Yi and Chen Yumei ran 2:02.91 and 2:03.14; at the 1996 Sydney event, Germany's Claudia Gesell and Kathleen Friedrich ran 2:02.67 and 2:02.70, respectively. 

Ruby Stauber of Minnesota, an LSU commit, was not far behind Watson and Miller at the USATF Junior Nationals in 2:03.43. Eight athletes total have run under 2:04, including Canadian Victoria Tachinski, who competes regularly in the United States and won New Balance Nationals Outdoor this year.