Anticipation builds for start of World Under-20

OREGON, USA —Expectations are high in the Jamaican camp as the 2026 World Athletics Under-20 Championships gets underway at the fabled Hayward Field at the University of Oregon in Eugene Tuesday. There are hopes that the Jamaican team will get off to a fast start with World Under- 20 leaders Shanoya Douglas and Gary Card set to lead the way in their respective 100m events that will be staged over the first two days of the five-day championships that are being held in the United States for the second time in 12 years after being held here in 2014. Douglas leads both the women’s 100m and 200m World Under-20 rankings with Card at the top of the men’s 100m.

Despite a tedious travel day on Monday and getting into Eugene early Tuesday morning, team manager Keith Wellington told the Jamaica Observer yesterday the young athletes were dealing with the situation admirably. “The team is in fairly good shape and spirits despite the late arrival,” Wellington said, adding the athletes had a light training session yesterday at the designated training facility. Nine Jamaicans will contest individual events on today’s opening day with the qualification and finals of the men’s shot put and the Mixed 4x400m Relay set to be decided.

The first two rounds of the men’s and women’s 100m will be held Tuesday with the finals set to be run on Wednesday and this highly anticipated event could steal most of the attention. Douglas will be seeking to upgrade her bronze in the 200m from the 2024 staging in Lima, Peru, while Card will hope to make amends for his sixth place finish in the 100m. Douglas, who swept the the double at the ISSA Champs, the CARIFTA Games and the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) national junior championships, leads the women’s 100m with her personal best 10.98 seconds set in March at the ISSA Champs and the expectations are for the American twins Mia and Mariah Maxwell to provide her with the most competition.

Douglas will be hoping to win the fourth straight 100m gold in the event by a Jamaican, following in the footsteps of Tina Clayton who won in Nairobi, Kenya in 2021 and defended her title a year later in Cali, Colombia and Alana Reid who won two years ago in Lima. Theianna-Lee Terrelonge failed to get past the first round two years ago and after running 11.13 seconds this season, is expected to advance to the final as well.