Frenchman stuns with 110m hurdles mark at the World U20 Championships in Nairobi while Christine Mboma goes close to her Tokyo silver medal run

Sasha Zhoya produced one of the greatest junior performances in history on the penultimate day of the World Under-20 Championships as he shattered his day-old world junior record in the 110m hurdles of 12.93 with a stunning 12.72.

The French athlete, who lined up in lane four on Saturday (Aug 21) in Nairobi, had one of the fastest reaction times (0.138) and making the most of a 1.0m/sec tailwind, he sped over the junior barriers (99cm) and looked shocked when he saw the time and kept moving at a fast pace well past the finish line.

Jamaican Vashaun Vascianna was five metres back but still set a top-class PB of 13.25.

It was close for third with Jakub Szmanski giving Poland the bronze in a PB 13.43 just ahead of Saeed Othman Alabsi’s Qatar record of 13.46.

It was not the only record announced, though, as Christine Mboma was credited with a world under-20 record of 21.84, curiously ignoring her 21.81 set when finishing second in the Tokyo Olympics. It certainly should have been a time in the 21.7’s though as Mboma gave away 0.122 of a second to fellow Namibian Beatrice Masilingi with a sluggish 0.274 reaction time.

The finish, though, was all Mboma as she sped home three metres clear of her rival and training partner, whose 22.18 trimmed her 22.19 championships best from the heats which of course went the way of Mboma.

It moved her to fourth all-time among junior athletes after Mboma, Allyson Felix (22.11) and Sha’carri Richardson (22.17).

Masilingi only just won the silver, though, as Favour Ofili was a close third in 22.23. The Nigerian improved her 22.30 best from the NCAA regionals thus completing the podium of the all-African 18 year-olds who left the rest 10 metres back.

Lucia Carrillo of Spain won the ‘B’ race in 23.51.

The men’s 200m also saw Nigeria and Botswana in the medals, but this time gold went to Udodi Chudi Onwuzurike who set a Nigerian under-20 record of 20.21. The American-based athlete did run a wind-assisted 20.13 (2.3) in his heat but here the tailwind was a gentle 0.5m/sec.

100m winner Letsile Tebogo gave Botswana silver in 20.38 while another all-African podium was completed by Sinesipho Dambile of South Africa in 20.48.

There was also a dominant win in the women’s 100m hurdles for Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent and she took gold by five metres in 12.95. Estonia’s Anna Maria Millend was second in 13.45 and Hungarian Anna Toth was third in 13.58.

Switzerland’s European under-20 champion Ditaji Kambundji had been the early leader but fell heavily at the fourth hurdle and brought down Estonia’s Viktoria Forster.

Botswana’s Anthony Pesela arrived in Nairobi with a 46.10 400m PB and he improved that to 45.88 in his heat. That was nothing, though, compared to the final as he moved up multiple levels to win in 44.58.

His time bettered Hamdan Odha Al Bishi’s 44.66 championships record from 2000 and also Johnnie Blockburger of the USA’s world lead of 44.71 having gone into the race as the world’s 10th quickest junior of 2021.

In second there was a Mexican under-20 record of 44.95 for Luis Aviles Ferreiro while South African Antonie Matthys Nortje set a PB 45.32 to take the bronze. The first seven all set lifetime bests with the sole European, Lorenzo Benati of Italy, sixth in 46.06.

The women’s 400m was not of the same quality but did see PBs for five of the top six. Nigeria’s Imaobong Nse Uko took gold in a PB 51.55 well clear of Poland’s Kornelia Lesiewicz who ran 51.97. Kenya took a home bronze through Sylvia Chelanagat’s 52.23.

The 2019 African junior champion Vincent Kibet Keter added to his list of titles with a fast 1500m win in 3:37.24. He led at 400m in 61.01 but his team-mate Kamar Etiang, who thought he was competing in the Olympics when he finished second in the Kenyan senior trials, was just ahead at 800m in 1:59.16.

Keter was soon back in front and powered through 1200m in 2:55.43 as he completed a 56.27 last lap.

Ethiopia’s Wegene Addisu chased him all the way on the last lap but finished just under five metres down as the Kenyan led home Addisu (3:37.86) with Melkeneh Azize kicking past Etiang, who was disqualified anyway, giving Ethiopia two in three with 3:40.22. Spain’s Pol Oriach was the only European in the top eight in fourth in 3:40.36.

The best two women’s 800m runners – Athing Mu and Keely Hodgkinson – were competing in Eugene in the Diamond League but this event still saw a worthy winner.

Elli Eftychia Deligianni of Greece was ahead at 400m in 60.99. Ethiopia’s Ayal Dagnachew was second at this point in 61.12 but ahead at 600m in 1:32.35 and with a 30.61 final 200m she moved easily away to win in 2:02.96 with Switzerland’s Valentina Rosamila a distant second in 2:04.29 as Deligianni held on for third in 2:04.66.

The women’s shot easily went the way of South African Mine de Klerk with a 17.40m final throw a she threw the five longest throws of the competition. Turkey’s Pinar Akyol took silver with 16.72m and South Africa gained another medal through Dane Roets’ 15.61m.

There seemed little doubt European under-20 champion and world junior record-holder Silja Kosonen would win the women’s hammer and she duly obliged. The Finn, who came close to making the Olympic final at the age of 18, set a championships record 71.64m and had the four best throws.

France’s Rose Loga took silver with 67.11m and Belarus’s Maryola Bukel took bronze with 65.20m as Europeans took the top 11 places.

Israel’s Yonathan Kapitolnik was a class apart in the men’s high jump and improved his 2.25m PB set when winning the European under-20 title to 2.26m. Italy’s Massimiliano Luiu and Poland’s Mateusz Kolodziejski took the other medals with 2.17m leaps.

On Saturday morning, Mexico’s Sofia Ramos Rodriguez and Kenya’s Heristone Wanyonyi took golds in the 10,000m race walk with the latter winning Kenya’s first ever race walks medal at the championships.

The race got off to a quick start with France’s Dimitri Durand and authorised neutral athlete Dmitriy Gramachkov breaking clear of the field and passing 3000m in 12:59.92. Wanyonyi was back in the pack at that point but he was able to make contact by the halfway mark, passed in 21:30.12 with Gramachkov ahead.

India’s Amit broke clear in the latter laps with Wanyonyi his only challenger but as the Indian moved out to grab water with just over 600 metres remaining, the Kenyan passed and powered away to win in a PB of 42:10.84, with Amit taking silver in 42:17.94 and Spain’s European under-20 champion Paul McGrath winning bronze in 42:26.11.

The women’s race was more straightforward as Rodriguez became Mexico’s fifth race walk champion. She had a seven-second lead at halfway, which she reached in 23:28.88 and by the finish that had grown to 80 seconds as she won in 46:23.01.

France’s Maele Bire-Heslouis won the silver in 47:43.87 while the Czech Republic’s Eliska Martinkova took bronze in 47:46.28.

In the decathlon, the overnight leader, Belgium’s European under-20 champion Jente Hauttekeete, started his day with 13.95 in the 110m hurdles followed by 41.47m in the discus and 4.50m in the pole vault.

Czech Republic’s Frantisek Doubek clocked 14.10, threw 45.64m and set a PB 4.80m in the vault to close the gap. However, the Belgian could only throw 51.24m in the javelin to Doubek’s 64.03m and his 50-point lead became a 142-point deficit to the Czech and though he made a small gap up on the 1500m – 4:48.18 to 4:52.39, Doubek had the title with a 8169 point score.

Hauttekeete took silver in 8053 and bronze went to Spain’s Jose San Pastor in 7430 points, 135 down on Dobek’s score after a mere nine events let alone ten.

In the men’s discus qualification, Lithuania’s European under-20 champion Mykolas Alekna produced the biggest throw as his 64.04m opener was well beyond the automatic qualifying mark of 58.00m.

Kenya were fastest in the heats of the men’s 4x400m with 3:05.77. Poland produced a stunning effort in the men’s 4x100m heats as they won in the European U20 record time of 38.93, taking 0.20 off the mark set by Germany in 2016.

Berke Akcam was the fastest 400m hurdles final qualifier with a 49.73 Turkish under-20 record while Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi headed the 800m qualifiers with a 1:46.15 semi-final win.

The final day of the championships is on Sunday (Aug 22).