Kenya Finish Top Of The Medal Table At World Athletics U-20 Championships In Nairobi

Team Kenya for the Nairobi 2021 IAAF World Under 20 Championships topped the medal standings on the back of a roaring final day of competition on Sunday.

Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Amos Serem and Purity Chepkirui struck gold to ensure their nation retained the biennial track and field showpiece title that they won in Tampere 2018.

Finland, who hosted the previous edition, were second while Nigeria finished third, followed by Ethiopia, Jamaica and South Africa in top six positions.

It was the fifth time in the history of the competition formerly  known as the IAAF World Junior Championships for Kenya to end up at the summit of the medal charts- Santiago 2000 (Chile), Beijing 2006 (China), Moncton 2010 (Canada),Tampere 2018 (Finland) and now Nairobi (Kenya) 2021.

It was a great achievement from the country’s next generation despite the unavailability of powerhouse United States, Britain, Australia, Japan and Germany who were absent because of the pandemic.

Kenya 4x400m men’s relay team sealed the medal rush on final event of the competition when they won bronze at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani.

Botswana won gold with Jamaica winning silver in a sizzling finale of the five-day event. The Kenyan quartet of Joshua Wanyonyi, Elkanah Kiprotich, Kennedy Kimeu and Peter Kithome timed 3:05.94.

Before the relay, Ethiopia had scooped their fourth gold in women’s 5000m courtesy of Mizan Alem in a time of  16 minutes and 05.61 seconds while Kenya’s Kenya’s Zenah Cheptoo got to win silver after Melknat Wudu from Ethiopia and Uganda’s Prisca Chesang were disqualified for lane infringement.

Medal Table: