Team USA Set for IAAF World Under-20 Championships

Team USA Set for IAAF World Under-20 Championships

USATF 07/18/2012 Eighty athletes are ready to represent the United States at the 2016 IAAF World Under-20 Championships at Zawisza Stadium.

BYDGOSZCZ, Poland --

Medals will be on the line on Tuesday – day one of the World U20 Championships – in finals of the men’s shot put, women’s 10,000 meters race walk and the men’s 10,000m.

Team USA has won 208 medals at the IAAF World U20 Championships since the competition was first held in 1986 in Athens. Team USA has won 94 golds to date, 53 by men and 41 by women.

The IAAF World U20 Championships were previously known as the IAAF World Junior Championships before undergoing a rebranding heading into 2016. The last World U20 (then known as Junior) Championships was held in Eugene, Oregon in 2014.

Tuesday’s morning session action begins at 3:30 a.m. ET with the men’s decathlon 100m. The first individual field event, the men’s shot put will begin at 3:35 a.m., and the first running event – the women’s 3,000m steeplechase – will begin at 3:55 a.m. ET.

The afternoon session will begin at 11 a.m. ET with qualification in the pole vault. The women’s 10k race walk is scheduled to begin at noon ET, and the heats of the women’s 400m begin running events at 1:10 p.m.

Field events at the World U20 Championships will employ a new competition protocol in finals.

Twelve competitors will qualify for each final. Qualifying marks are wiped out at the start of the final. The field of 12 will get three attempts before being cut to the top eight. The remaining eight athletes will receive one more attempt, as opposed to the prior protocol three more, for a total of six attempts.

The best mark after each competitor has made four attempts will win.

The U.S. U20 team was selected based on performances at the USATF Junior Championships from June 24-26 in Clovis, California.

Candace Hill (Conyers, Georgia), one of the many headliners on this U.S. team, was on hand at the IAAF pre-Championships press conference on Monday.

Hill turned professional as a 16 year old last season, raced in the 100m and 200m semi-finals at the U.S. Olympic Trials and will compete in the 100m at World U20 Championships. She is also in the 4x100m relay pool.

“Our biggest goal is to represent Team USA in a lovely manner,” Hill said. “Just going out there, hopefully we’ll do that.”

Bydgoszcz hosted the World U20 Championships in 2008. The city is the first to host the World U20 Championships twice.

Follow the World U20 Championships on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook using #Bydogszcz2016, and watch on Universal HD and the NBC Sports app. NBC will be live streaming two days of coverage – Saturday, July 23 from 11 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. ET. and Sunday, July 24 from 10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m. ET.

TV/Streaming Schedule - IAAF World U20 Championships
Date	Day	Start (ET)	End (ET)	Network	Notes
7/19/2016	Tuesday	9:00 PM	10:00 PM	UniHD	Day 1
7/20/2016	Wednesday	9:00 PM	10:00 PM	UniHD	Day 2
7/21/2016	Thursday	8:00 PM	9:00 PM	UniHD	Day 3
7/22/2016	Friday	9:00 PM	10:00 PM	UniHD	Day 4
7/23/2016	Saturday	11:00 AM	2:15 PM	NBC Sports App	Day 5
7/23/2016	Saturday	9:00 PM	10:00 PM	UniHD	Day 5
7/24/2016	Sunday	10:00 AM	1:10 PM	NBC Sports App	Day 6
7/24/2016	Sunday	9:00 PM	10:00 PM	UniHD	Day 6

Contributed by Jake Most, Team USA Press Officer - IAAF World U20 Championships Bydgoszcz 2016