This archive report was first published on 18 August 2021.
On Wednesday, the World Athletics U20 Championships kicked off at Kasarani Stadium, with Botswana's Letsile Tebogo and Namibia's Beatrice Masilingi making a strong impression by breaking national U20 100m records.
Finland's Saga Vanninen, the reigning European U20 champion, also showed her potential to become Finland's first ever world U20 heptathlon gold medallist by achieving a season's best of 1.78m in the high jump and clocking 13.60 in the 100m hurdles.
At the Kasarani Stadium, Tebogo lit up the men's 100m heats with a commanding performance, winning in 10.22 (0.7m/s) and becoming the quickest qualifier for Wednesday evening's semifinals.
Other notable performances included South Africa's Benjamin Richardson, Nigeria's Godson Oke Oghenebrume, Cuba's Shainer Rengifo Montoya, Poland's Oliwer Wdowik, and Jamaica's Bryan Levell, who all won their respective heats.
Meanwhile, Namibia's Masilingi powered to victory in a national U20 record of 11.20 (1.0m/s) in the women's 100m heat, with Jamaica's Tina Clayton clocking 11.50 (-0.1m/s) as the next quickest qualifier.
