EUGENE, USA - 6 Aug 2026:
Su Yixin tasted her first major global victory as the discus thrower from China's Sichuan province hurled the disc to a world U20 lead of 61.06m to pocket the gold on the second day of the 21st World Athletics U20 Championships.
She led the qualifiers on Wednesday with a mark of 58.06m to reveal her medal ambition in Eugene. At Hayward Field, she opened Thursday's final with an early lead of 59.32m, which was sufficient for her to earn the top spot. A massive personal best (61.06m) came on her last effort of the day, stamping her class among the participants. However, her teammate Ma Chenyi disappointed in the final by finishing fourth with a throw of 54.58m. Earlier, she was second to Su in the qualifiers with a 57.72m effort.
American Jaslene Massey (58.41m) and Cypriot Marina Hadjicosta (54.88m) filled the other two places on the podium. India's Asian U20 champion, Amanat Kamboj, finished sixth.
Asian athletes missed the podium in the other finals held on the second day. Malaysian sprinter Muhammad Roslee in the 100m (10.44 secs) and Chinese shot putter He Yuxiao (15.92m) finished seventh while long jumper Guo Siyang (6.03m) finished eighth in their respective events.
The American sprinters dominated the scene with Tate Taylor (9.94 secs) and Mia Maxwell (11.14 secs) taking away the 100m golds just ahead of the Jamaicans Gary Card and Shanoya Douglas in the men's and women's sections, respectively.
Reigning Asian U20 champion Mariam Kareem led the qualifiers in the women's 400m hurdles heats. Japan's Taiju Goto, who clocked a World U18 best of 48.09 secs this June, eased through to the semis in the men's heats.
Elsewhere, the Indian quartermiler Mohammed Ashfaq qualified for the men's 400m final after improving his national U20 record to 45.81 secs in the heats. Japanese middle distance runners Miori Kida and Sherry Drury qualified for the women's 1500m final.
Ram. Murali Krishnan
for Asian Athletics
Photo: FloTrack.
