QuickTake:

The biennial junior-level championships will take place Aug. 5-9 at Hayward Field. Young international track and field stars have the chance to make their mark, including several who’ve already done so at the collegiate and professional levels. Tickets start at $15.

The final event of the local outdoor track and field summer season arrives this week at Hayward Field. 

The World Athletics U20 Championships return to Eugene for the first time since 2014, and the five-day meet will stretch from Aug. 5 to 9 at the historic seat of the sport in the United States. 

Several of the United States’ top faces are expected to contend for titles, with high school star Tate Taylor leading the way for Team USA against an international field. 

What are the World Athletics U20 Championships?

Held biennially — the last competition was 2024 in Lima, Peru — this meet is a chance for the world’s best young athletes to compete against their peers. Some already have taken a step to the professional level and compete in Diamond League or senior national and continental championships, but come to Eugene for a chance at a world title.

It’s nearing the end of the outdoor season, which has seen some of these athletes visit Hayward Field for one or more of the NCAA Championships, Prefontaine Classic or USATF U20 Championships/Nike Outdoor Nationals. The United States wrapped up its senior national championship meet in New York City last month; the European Athletics Championships begin Aug. 10, and the final four meets of the Diamond League schedule follow.

U.S. athletes qualified for Team USA at June’s USATF U20 Championships, held in conjunction with the annual Nike Outdoor Nationals at Hayward Field. International athletes qualified for teams at respective national championship meets.

Which events should you watch?

There are finals every day, and include a morning and evening session each of its first four days before a lone evening session Sunday, Aug. 9. Featured finals include 100-meter Day 2; 200-meter Day 4 and 1,500-meter finals Day 5; all have American and international faces who are expected to contend. 

If you’re looking for Ducks to watch, keep an eye on 2026 signees Jaslene Massey in the women’s discus (qualification 6 p.m. to 7:20 p.m., Aug. 5 and final 6 p.m., Aug. 6) and shot put (qualification 10 a.m. and final 7:40 p.m., Aug. 6) and Simon Rosselli in men’s discus (qualification 12:50-2 p.m., Aug. 8 and final 12:10 p.m., Aug. 9). Incoming sophomore Juan Gonzalez completes in the 5,000-meter, 8:22 p.m., Aug. 5. 

Multiple OSAA champions Ellery Lincoln (OU commit and Lincoln High School) will compete in the 1,500 meters, while Emily Wisniewski (North Carolina State University and Crescent Valley High School) will run the 5,000 meters.

Who are the top Americans?

Most of the best Americans headed to Eugene this week are familiar faces at Hayward Field. 

Taylor, an 18-year-old recent graduate from San Antonio Harlan High School in Texas, is one of the sport’s fastest-rising stars. He’s committed to run at Texas Tech University next season, and on his way there, he’s taken a sledgehammer to the American U20 sprints scene. He peaked at last month’s Prefontaine Classic, where he won the 200-meter race in a personal-best 19.75 seconds — and ran that race into a headwind.

Quincy Wilson, the University of Maryland commit who starred in high school and won Olympic gold as a member of the U.S. 4×400-meter relay pool at the 2024 Olympic Games, is one of the team’s two 400-meter entrants alongside incoming Louisiana State University freshman Jayden DeLeon. The pair rank third (DeLeon) and fourth (Wilson) in the world amongst U20 athletes this season.

Le’Ezra Brown and Zacchaeus Brocks hold the top two world spots in the men’s 110-meter hurdles at the 99.0 cm height; the pair are the only U20 runners under 13 seconds in the race this season.

Mia and Mariah Maxwell, twin sisters from Texas, should contend in the 100 meters and 200 meters, where their season-best times rank in the world U20 top five. Mia’s 11.08 in the 100 meters makes her second in the world ahead of fourth-place Mariah. Mariah’s 22.44 in the 200 meters is second in the world, ahead of Mia’s 22.49.

Massey is the world U20 leader in the discus throw with a 60.27m (197 feet, 9 inches) mark she set at Hayward Field earlier this year at the USATF U20 Championships/NON meet, and ranks sixth in the shot put behind leader Jessica Oji of Nigeria. Massey won all four available titles in discus and shot put at the USATF/NON joint meet, and will throw for Oregon in the fall.

University of Arkansas commit Natalie Dumas is the top American contender in the 400-meter hurdles, where she ranks fifth with a 56.13 time. Lincoln, who swept the Oregon 1,500-meter and 3,000-meter titles before finishing second in the USATF U20 1,500-meter final.

Cooper Lutkenhaus, 17, who won the 800-meter title at the U.S. senior championships, will not compete this week in Eugene. Instead, world U20 No. 7 Stefon Dodoo and No. 17 Kaleb Burroughs will lead the American charge.

Who are the top internationals?

Taylor won’t face off with Australian star Gout Gout after a hamstring injury ruled out the Aussie, but Taylor can still challenge Jamaican Gary Card, who leads U20 athletes worldwide in the 100 meters at 9.93 — the only entrant under 10 seconds this season. 

Also featured in the men’s sprints will be Great Britain’s Jake Odey-Jordan, another Texas Tech commit with top-seven times in both the 100 meters and 200 meters, and a Nike Outdoor Nationals win from earlier this season in 10.01.

Another Jamaican, Shanoya Douglas, is the women’s U20 world leader in the 100 meters at 10.98 — the only athlete this year under 11 seconds — and in the 200m meters at 22.11.

Slovenia’s Živa Remic is the top-ranked entrant in the 800 meters after Great Britain’s Phoebe Gill announced her withdrawal Friday, citing an ongoing knee injury. Remic ranks just ahead of Ethiopia’s Habtam Gebeyehu. Haregeweyni Kalayu is the only U20 woman under four minutes in the 1,500 meters this year, and she’ll join Elsabet Amare from a group of Ethiopians who hold the top three places in the standings. 

How much are tickets?

Single-session passes are available daily for morning or evening sessions — those are $15 in the morning and $35 in the evening for general admission seats, with more expensive seats in sections surrounding the finish line. All-session passes start at $245 with access to all nine sessions, and are only available in the eight sections surrounding the finish line.

Tickets are available through the World Athletics website, where the full schedule is accessible.