Taylor and Maxwell secure 100m doubles for USA in Eugene

Tate Taylor and Mia Maxwell secured 100m gold medals for the United States on Thursday in Eugene. Taylor won the men's 100m title in 9.94 seconds, while Maxwell took the women's title with a time of 11.14 seconds.

Taylor's sub-10 second performance placed him in a tie for fifth on the under-20 world all-time list. He is the first American man to win this specific world title since 2016. Jamaica's Gary Card took silver in 10.05, and South Africa's Marko Ferreira earned bronze in 10.16. Ferreira's podium finish means South Africa has produced a men's 100m medallist at four straight World U20 Championships. Great Britain's Jake Odey-Jordan finished fifth in 10.31.

Maxwell's victory ended an eight-year period of Jamaican dominance in the women's 100m. She is the first American woman to win the event at this level since 2016. Jamaica's Shanoya Douglas finished second, and 16-year-old Kelly Doualla took bronze in 11.27. Doualla became the first Italian athlete to win a world U20 medal in this event.

In the heptathlon, Finland's Enni Virjonen won gold with 6214 points, the highest winning score at this championship since 2018. Estonia's Mia Mireia Uusorg took silver with 5961 points. Great Britain's Thea Brown finished fourth with a personal best of 5826 points, missing the bronze medal by 24 points to Switzerland's Anna Pfister, who scored 5850.

Other notable results included the women's long jump, where France achieved a clean sweep of the medals. Djelika Diarra won gold with a personal best of 6.52m, followed by Greece's Evelyn Mitropoulou in second and Soudatou Niang in third. In the women's discus, China's Su Yixin took gold with a world U20 lead of 61.06m, ahead of American Jaslene Massey.

Nigeria's Jessica Oji won the women's shot put with a throw of 18.08m, becoming the first Nigerian woman to win a world U20 medal in throwing events. Ecuador's Belsy Jenniffer Quiñonez took silver with a national U20 record of 17.90m, while Germany's Emily Scherf finished third with 17.23m.