Koga got a silver in the World Record Hurdles Final
EUGENE, USA - 8 Aug 2026:
Asian athletes won five medals on the fourth day of the 21st World Athletics U20 Championships in Hayward Field. The top result among them was a silver medal earned by Japan's Jeremy Koga in the 110m Hurdles. Koga, who eclipsed the previous Asian U20 record with a 12.95-second clocking in the semifinals, tried all his might to match the US hurdler Le'Ezra Brown in the final. However, the American was too strong to beat.
Brown came out of the blocks a little faster than Koga and maintained the advantage throughout the race to equal the World U20 Record of 12.72 secs to pocket the gold. Koga, incidentally, was a bit slower than the semis, clocking 12.97s for the silver position. The second American in the fray, Zacchaeus Brocks, was a shade away from Koga to claim the bronze in 12.98 secs.
Asian athletes won two more silver medals, with Chinese racewalker Pu Huajia and Indian high jumper Basant bringing it in their respective events. Asian U20 champion Nitin Gupta was in the lead bunch until the last KM, but faded away thereafter.
However, Isaac Beacroft from Australia, the winner of the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and Pu Huajia took the lead right from the early stages of the race. The Australian clocked a new World U20 record of 18:40.37 to fetch the gold for his country. Huajia, who earlier this year won the Racewalking World Cup in Brasilia, bettered Gupta's Asian U20 record with a time of 18:43.70.
In the high jump, Asian U20 champion Basant justified his billing as he sailed over 2.21m on his second try to equal his personal best mark, which he logged while winning the Indian Junior Federation Cup at Tumkur, this April.
The other medalists in this event also cleared the same height. Algerian Younes Ayachi, who cleared the height on his first attempt to receive the gold, while Great Britain's Otis Poole, who was successful on the third attempt, filled the bronze position on the podium.
China's Yang Yutong claimed a bronze in the women's 5000m race walk. Like Huajia, she was also a gold medalist from the Brasilia World Cup in April.
Another current Asian U20 champion, Shanavaz Khan of India, leaped 7.84m in the long jump to garner the bronze medal. Italian Daniele Leonardo Inzoli won the gold with 7.97m. Earlier this year, Shahnavaz leaped 8.30m, the second-best jump by a U20 athlete this year.
Japanese hurdler Taiju Goto and Emirate's Mariam Kareem have qualified for the Finals of the 400m hurdles in their respective categories. In the semis, Mariam improved the UAE national record to an excellent 56.39 secs, the pole position among the qualifiers and the favourite to make a podium finish in tomorrow's final.
Goto is also a hot favourite to win the gold as he already clocked a World U18 best of 48.09 secs back at home while winning his National Championships in Nagoya.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for Asian Athletics
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