Ashish Yadav wins silver as India opens medal account at U20 Worlds

Ashish Yadav won silver in the men’s javelin at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Eugene, opening India’s medal account. Pooja Singh qualified for the women’s high jump final, while Shahnavaz Khan and Jithin Arjuna advanced in long jump

Eugene (USA): Ashish Yadav won a silver in the men’s javelin throw event to open India’s medal account, while national senior record holder Pooja Singh qualified for the women’s high jump final at the World Athletics U20 Championships here.

Yadav’s third round throw of 74.09m fetched him the silver medal while T Dharanidharan, the other Indian in the fray in the men’s javelin throw finals on Friday, finished sixth with 72.35m.

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Yadav’s effort was 40cm short of his personal best of 74.49m, which he had recorded during the Indian Open Throws Competition in Patiala in March.

The 19-year-old Yadav became the second Indian, after two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra, to win a silver in the event.

Chopra had won gold and set the still-standing world junior record of 86.48m in the 2016 edition in Poland.

The gold medal went to South Africa’s Jan-Hendrik Heymans who sent his spear to 80.50m, the season’s U20 world lead, in his sixth and final attempt. Dominica’s Addison James clinched the bronze medal with a throw of 73.89m.

Born to a farming family in Mirzapur district in Uttar Pradesh, Yadav trains at the IIS-SAI center in Hisar, Haryana, under head coach Arvind Kumar.

He was inspired by Chopra’s exploits who congratulated the youngster on his achievement.

“Always a great feeling to see Indian athletes competing and winning at the International level, this one is a little more special for me as a javelin thrower. Super proud of you Ashish on your Silver at the U-20 Worlds, this is just the start!” Chopra said on his social media handles.

Yadav started the 2026 season strongly, improving his personal best to 74.49m. He also won silver at the Junior Federation Cup with a throw of 73.12m.

He, however, underperformed in the Asian U20 Championships in May in Hong Kong as finished fifth with a best throw of 69.58m. He bounced back at the Indian Athletics Series-9 in Ludhiana, where he finished third with a throw of 72.27m.

Mohommed Ashfaq, who broke the U20 national record during the men’s 400m first round heat race a day earlier with a time of 45.81 seconds, finished eighth, clocking 46.20 seconds in the finals.

American Jayden Deleon won the gold with a championships record time of 44.47 seconds, while compatriot Quincy Wilson took the silver with 44.62 seconds.

South Africa’s Leendert Koekemoer clinched the bronze with a time of 44.96 seconds.

Pooja qualified for the final round in the women’s high jump event, sailing over 1.79m on day three of the meet.

All 14 athletes across two qualification groups, who managed to clear 1.79m, were awarded places in the final.

The 19-year-old Pooja holds the national senior record of 1.93m.

In the men’s long jump, both Shahnavaz Khan and Jithin Arjuna made it to the finals after the qualification round.

Shahnavaz finished fourth in qualification Group A and fifth overall with a 7.73m jump in his third and final attempt. Jithin also advanced, finishing 12th overall and taking the last available spot, with his 7.57m jump in his third and final attempt.

Italy’s Daniele Inzoli was the only athlete across the two qualification groups to breach the automatic qualification distance of 8m with an effort of 8.15m.

Poonam, however, failed to qualify for the women’s javelin final after finishing eighth in her qualification group and 13th overall with the day’s best throw of 48.81m.