The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AS the World Athletics’ 2026 World Under-20 Championships came to a close in Eugene, Oregon, over the weekend, The Bahamas produced four finalists, two of them coming with a men's national junior record-breaking feat.

The Bahamas didn't get on the podium, but there were some performances to remember in the biggest field ever assembled for the championships that was dominated by the United States of America on their home turf with 12 gold, seven silver and five bronze for their total of 24 medals.

Women's javelin

Taysha Stubbs, representing the last chance for a medal on the fifth and final day of competition yesterday at Hayward Field, finished in ninth place with her best heave of 158-feet, 7-inches or 48.84 metre on her first attempt.

Aseel Abdel Hamid of Egypt took the gold with 196-3 (59.82m), Vita Barbic of Croatia won the silver with 185-8 (56.60m) and Yu-Chin Tai of Chinese Taipei claimed the bronze with 178-3 (54.34m).

Stubbs, on day three of the championships on Friday, qualified for the final with the sixth best performance overall in the preliminaries, highlighted by her third place in Group A with a heave of 172-5 (52.55m).

Women's 400m hurdles

Kei-Mahri Hanna's impressive run in the championships ended in the final yesterday as well where she placed seventh in a time of 58.17 seconds. 

Romania's Alexandra Stefania ran a championship record of 55.33 for the gold, while Tumi Ramokgopa of South Africa had a lifetime best of 55.68 for the silver and Eleni Lakovaki of Greece clinched the bronze in a national junior record time of 55.99.

Hanna, running out of lane seven in the second of the three semifinals, came back down the home stretch in the final two flights of hurdles to earn the third qualifying spot in 57.55 for fifth overall.

Men's 110m hurdles

In another final on Saturday, Jahcario Wilson ran out of lane two in a hotly contested race in 13.08 to lower his Bahamian under-20 record for the second time in the championships.

Running out of lane two, Wilson was right in the thick of things over the first eight flights of hurdles, but struggled a bit over the final two in what turned out to be one of the fastest races ever.

American Le'Ezra Brown posted a world under-20 record of 12.72 for the gold. Japan's Jeremy Koga got the silver in 12.97 and American Zacchaeus Brocks ran a lifetime best of 12.98 for the bronze.

Wilson had the sixth fastest qualifying time from the semifinals in another Bahamian under-20 national record of 13.17. Anthony Johnson of Norway got fourth place ahead of Wilson in a national under-20 record of 13.00. 

Men's decathlon

Also on Saturday, Kenny Moxey Jr completed the gruelling two-day, 10-event competition, accumulating a total of 7,179 points for 18th place overall to ink his name on the other Bahamian men's junior national record, including four individual lifetime performances. 

In the final analysis, Liam Belo da Silva of Sweden snatched the gold with 8,112, followed by Mikai Snoek of the Netherlands with 7,887 for the silver and Adam Julis of the Czech Republic with 7,877 for the bronze.

Despite not making the top three, Moxey Jr left his mark on the competition.

On day one on Friday in the first session, he opened up with fourth in his heat of the 100 metres in a personal best time of 11.04 seconds for 852 points. 

He was sixth in Group B for 19th in the long jump with 22-1 (6.75m) for 755 points and won Group B for sixth place in another PR in shot put with 48-5 1/4 (14.76m) for 775 points.

During the evening session, Moxey Jr got fourth in Group B and overall in the high jump with 6-6 3/4 (2.00m) for 803 points and he ran his third PR of 49.32 in the 400m for fourth in his heat for 13th with 846 points.

Moxey Jr came back on Saturday in the third session to run 14.88 for eighth place in his heat of the 110m hurdles for 19th place and 864 points. 

In the discus, he threw his fourth PR of 115-6 (35.22m) for 12th place in his group and 25th overall with 568 points. He closed out the session with sixth in his group and 18th overall in the pole vault with 13-1 1/2 (4.0m) for 673 points.

Saturday's final session saw Moxey Jr came up with an 11th in his group and 15th overall in the javelin with a toss of 159-7 (48.65m). And he struggled to complete the competition with 14th place in his heat of the 1,500m in 5:15.48 for 474 points  

Men's 4 x 400m relay

On Saturday, the quartet of Zion Shepherd, Javano Bridgewater, Jonathan Higgs and Sonycko Ilet ran a season's best of 3:09.09 for fourth in the second of three heats for 12th overall and out of contention for the final.

Shepherd had the third fastest split on his leg in 47.07; Bridgewater did the fastest split of 46.82 on the second leg, Higgs had the fifth best split of 48.83 on the third leg and Ilet had the fourth best split of 46.37 on anchor.

The Bahamas didn't enter a team in the women's relay.

Men's 4 x 100m relay

In their preliminaries on Saturday as well, the combo of Terrin Beckles, Ishmael Rolle, Carlin Archer and Eagan Neely ran 40.93 for fifth in the second of four heats for 22nd overall and out of the final as well.

Once again, no team was entered in the women's relay.

The championships ended on a high with the USA putting their stamp of approval on both the ladies’ and men's 4 x 400m relays in world-leading under-20 times this year.