This archive report was first published on 22 August 2021.
On August 21, 2021, the penultimate day of the World Under-20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, French sprinter Sasha Zhoya produced a show-stopping performance, breaking the 110m hurdles men's record for the second time.
With his eyes fixed on the finish line, Zhoya smoothly glided past the hurdles, crossing over in a World Under-20 record time of 12.72 seconds. He celebrated his achievement by thumping his chest, screaming in the air, and bouncing all over the track.
Behind Zhoya, Vashaun Vascianna of Jamaica took silver with a personal best time of 13.25 seconds, while Polish athlete Jakub Szymanski secured bronze with a lifetime best of 13.43 seconds.
After the race, an excited Zhoya said, 'I'm very happy with this time and I'm happy I could show everyone that yesterday wasn't a fluke, because if you do a 12.93, it's a very good time but I wanted to make sure people didn't think it was just a one-time thing and I did that again today.'
He added, 'Now all I need to do is to replicate my junior performance to the senior category as I now focus into transiting into the seniors. Now I am really to tackle all the senior competitions slotted for 2022 including the World Championships in Oregon.'
Meanwhile, in the women's 110m hurdles, hot favourite Ditaji Kambundji from Switzerland saw her medal hopes dashed in the most heartbreaking fashion ever, as she clipped one of the hurdles before tripping and ending her race.
World leader Ackera Nugent from Jamaica won the race to clinch gold in 12.95 seconds, while Estonia's Anna Maria Millend took silver with 13.45 seconds. Hungarian Anna Toth earned bronze in a time of 13.58 seconds.
Nugent becomes the first Jamaican woman since Gillian Russel in 1992 to win the 100m hurdles at the World U20 Championships.
At the same time, Olympic silver medalist Christine Mboma continued her immense form with victory in the women's 200m, leading compatriot Beatrice Masilingi to a Namibian 1-2 finish ahead of Nigeria's Favour Ofili.
Mboma ran a superb race to crush Masilingi's one-day-old Championship record, clocking 21.84 seconds ahead of her compatriot who timed a new Personal best of 22.18 seconds. Ofili set a Nigerian national U20 record after clocking 22.23 seconds to take the bronze.
Finally, in the men's corresponding event, 18-year-old Udodi Onwuzurike who is representing Nigeria for the first time in his career clinched gold. He ran a Nigerian U20 record of 20.21, making him the country's first 200m gold medalist at the World U20 Championships since 1996 when Francis Obikwelu won the sprint double.
