Taylor anchors USA to world U20 4x100m record in Oregon | News | Oregon 26 | World Athletics U20 Championships
Report09 Aug 2026
Taylor anchors USA to world U20 4x100m record in Oregon
The men’s 4x100m final at the WU20 Oregon 26 (©
- USA set world U20 4x100m record of 38.16
- Michal Rada adds 400m hurdles gold to 2024 silver
- Bakr El Asri dominates 3000m steeplechase
USA stormed to a world U20 record of 38.16* to get 4x100m gold on the final day of the World Athletics U20 Championships Oregon 26 on Sunday (9).
Blake Hamilton, Dillon Mitchell, Kyler Brown and Tate Taylor teamed up to smash the world U20 record of 38.51 that was set by <a href="https://absafricatv.com/womens-day-in-south-africa-turns-70-with-equality-still-out-of-reach/" title="Women’s Day in South Africa turns 70 with equality still out of reach”>South Africa when winning the world U20 title in Nairobi in 2021.
Taylor received the baton in the lead and blazed the anchor leg to take his team to a dominant win. It completed a gold medal treble for the 18-year-old at Hayward Field as he won the 100m on Thursday and the 200m on Saturday.
Hamilton secured his second medal of the championships, adding relay gold to his 200m silver.
Great Britain & NI got 4x100m silver, matching the European U20 record of 38.90, while Jamaica clinched bronze in 39.01 – a second medal for 100m silver medallist Gary Card.
“It means a lot winning this gold medal,” said Taylor. “We knew we were ready for something special.”
Brown added: “This is a fast team; we never had a thing like this before. We were very excited here yesterday and now we have the gold.”
USA’s relay success continued in the men’s 4x400m – the final event of the championships.
Quincy Wilson, Cameron Tucker, Alexander Osayemi and Jayden Deleon teamed up to run a world U20 lead of 3:01.39 – the fifth-fastest U20 performance in history – to successfully defend the title for the third successive time after dominating the race. Deleon and Wilson added the title to their respective gold and silver medals from the individual 400m.
South Africa earned silver, 400m bronze medallist Leendert Koekemoer running a strong anchor leg to cross the finish line in an African U20 record of 3:02.76.
France earned the third place on the podium with a national U20 record, finishing two seconds back in 3:04.80.
“It means a lot being able to run with these guys,” said Wilson, who formed part of USA’s gold medal-winning 4x400m squad at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. “They have been working hard all weekend. Just knowing how much they work and sacrifice means a lot to me.”
That final gold for USA further strengthened the host nation’s place at the top of the medal table in Oregon with 12 gold, seven silver and five bronze medals.
Rada upgrades silver to gold
Czechia’s Michal Rada won 400m hurdles gold, setting a European U20 record of 48.59 to add this title to the world U20 silver medal he won as a 17-year-old in Lima in 2024.
Another 17-year-old secured silver this time, Japan’s Taiju Goto running 49.23 to finish runner-up ahead of South Africa’s Matodzi Ndou in 49.90.
“It was a super hard race because of the headwind, and the competitors were world class,” said Rada. “This is the sweetest reward I could have. It was amazing – winning a gold medal and then seeing my family crying, I knew I had to go over to them. This medal is half for them.”
Michal Rada celebrates his 400m hurdles win in Oregon (© World Athletics Media Academy Benjamin Fox)
There was a dramatic end to the 3000m steeplechase, won comfortably by Spain’s Bakr El Asri who had time to celebrate on his approach to the finish line.
El Asri ran 8:28.35 to win by more than four seconds ahead of Kenya’s Emmanuel Lemiso Someki who earned silver with a PB of 8:32.81.
Spain’s Marti Torregrossa was clear in third place but Kenya’s Nicholas Kitum Losiwareng charged into medal contention on the final lap and pushed his way on to the podium, pipping Torregrossa 8:38.05 to 8:38.13.
Kenya earned two more medals in the 1500m, Wilson Chepkwech winning gold in a PB of 3:37.46 ahead of his teammate David Kapaiko Sekento who ran a PB of 3:38.32 to earn silver.
The medallists all raised their game for this final, Morocco’s Osama Er Redouani also setting a PB of 3:39.68 to finish third.
Sandra Vasquez-Ramirez for the World Athletics Media Academy
*Subject to the usual ratification procedure
