By Josh Squire

A team of 67 of Australia’s brightest track and field teenagers took on the World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima, Peru, cementing the Aussie flag as one to watch in athletics.

Five days of competition netted 14 medals for Australia, blowing away their previous best haul (10 medals) from 1996 as the teen sensations snared silverware everywhere from the track to the sand and the cushions.

A combination of two gold, seven silver and five bronze placed Australia in seventh on the medal table at the close of the championships, equalling their previous best efforts from 1990 and 2018 but far surpassing both in terms of total medals.

The tone was set on the opening day by the mixed 4 x 400m relay team who broke their own area under-20 world record from the morning’s heats by almost two seconds, posting a stunning time of 3:19:27. But it was some familiar faces that lead the way from then on.

Trinbago 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games dual gold medallist Delta Amidzovski returned to the same events she dominated in August last year, medalling twice on the world stage once again.

Amidzovski went toe-to-toe with American Sophia Beckmon in the long jump, having to better her opponent’s efforts on two occasions to win gold. Her fifth attempt of 6.58m was a personal best and couldn’t be matched by anyone in the field.

The 18-year-old then backed up her efforts just days later to snag bronze in the women’s 100m hurdles, becoming the first Australian woman to medal in either event at the U20 World Championships. She also claimed Australia’s first gold medal in a women’s event since two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Dani Samuels took out the discus in 2006.

Bronze medallist from Trinbago Izobelle Louison-Roe also returned to the podium, upgrading to a silver medal in the high jump with a personal best clearance of 1.89m to ensure all medal colours were taken home by last year’s Commonwealth Youth Games Team.

Five other Trinbago 2023 athletes joined Amidzovski and Louison-Roe in Peru’s capital. Xylavene Beale threw her way to fifth in the women’s shot put and 16-year-old Fleur Cooper narrowly missed out on the women’s 800m final to round out the top results from our alumni.

Although the remaining three days of competition didn’t produce a gold like the first two, there was no shortage of medals. Emerging Athlete of the Month recipients Torrie Lewis (200m), Claudia Hollingsworth (800m), and Cameron Myers (1500m) all struck silver on the track as a sure sign that they are some of the next Australians to battle for senior international medals.

Lewis’ recent Olympic experience at Paris 2024 shone through while Myers couldn’t quite hold on as the front runner of the men’s metric mile in a bid to take out his first world title. Hollingsworth’s middle-distance efforts were matched by fellow Paris Olympian in the 800m, Peyton Craig, whose second-place finish kickstarted an almighty podium rush on Day Four.

Following Lewis’ silver, it would be remiss to not mention Australia’s other sprint sensation, Gout Gout, who closed out the historic day in the men’s 200m sprint.

The 16-year-old flew down the straight to finish just eight-hundredths of a second away from becoming the youngest World Athletics U20 200m champion since Usain Bolt (15 years, 332 days) in 2002.

His astonishing closing speed and lanky figure have led people to draw comparisons between him and the Jamaican sprint king, and the world was watching intently when he collected Australia’s sixth medal on the penultimate day of competition.

Despite Gout’s incredible feats as a 16-year-old, there was another member of the team turning heads at an even younger age. Mason McGroder, at just 15, produced a personal best of 7.80m in the men’s long jump final to take bronze as the youngest of the field by over six months.

A final silver medal for the women’s 4x400m relay team accompanied bronze medals from Tryphena Hewett in the pole vault and Marley Raikiwasa in discus to round out a competition that showed great promise for athletics in Australia.

With thanks to Athletics Australia.