World Athletics U20 Championships 2024: Czechia's Tomas Jarvinen wins gold in men's decathlon, breaks C'ship record

The 18-year-old was 10 points shy of the world U20 record in decathlon at World Athletics U20 Championship 2024 .

A championship record of 8425 points in the decathlon by Czechia’s Tomas Jarvinen and a huge leap of 8.17m by Croatia’s Roko Farkas to win the long jump were among the highlights on the fourth evening of action at the World Athletics U20 Championships 2024 on Friday. 

Jarvinen went into day two of the decathlon in a dominant position and the 18-year-old kept the momentum rolling, clocking 13.78 in the 110m hurdles followed by a huge PB of 49.18m in the discus, a 4.60m clearance in the pole vault, a 55.79m javelin throw and another big PB of 4:29.78 in the 1500m.

Poland’s Hubert Trosciaka produced a PB of 8230 to win silver, featuring three personal bests in the 400m (47.24), 1500m (4:24.41) and long jump (7.27m). Dutch athlete Florian Vriezen claimed bronze with a PB of 8230.

Jarvinen was just 10 points shy of Niklas Kaul’s world U20 record and he moved to second on the world U20 all-time list after a remarkable two days where he produced the best marks in five of the 10 disciplines and led the field every step of the way.

Also Read: World Athletics U20 Championships 2024: Tunisia’s Rayen Cherni wins gold in men’s 10,000m race walk, sets C’ship record

“I am completely shocked,” said Jarvinen. “I know I did my best on two days. The event I like the most is probably the discus throw and the least is probably the 100m. For the next year, I will try to get to the World Championships.”

Roko Farkas sets new championships record to win gold in men’s long jump at World Athletics U20 Championship 2024

A decathlete also stole the show in the men’s long jump final at World Athletics U20 Championships 2024. Unable to contest the decathlon this season because of a shoulder injury, Farkas focused on the 200m for the European Championships in Rome and the long jump for Lima.

The big question on Friday was whether Farkas could live up to his heroics in long jump qualification, where he obliterated his PB to jump 8.15m. For much of the final, it appeared he couldn’t, managing a best of 7.81m through the opening three rounds. But then in round four, with the benefit of a 2.4m/s tailwind, he soared to 8.17m, the longest winning jump in the championships’ history, which was comfortably good enough for gold.

8.17m for the GOLD 🔥Another Croatian U20 long jump record for Roko Farkaš as he flies to the gold medal in Lima 🚀 #WorldAthleticsU20 pic.twitter.com/GNTmEuASYk

— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 31, 2024

Silver went to Serbia’s Luka Boskovic with 7.93m while Australia’s Mason McGroder set a PB of 7.80m to take bronze. 

“I was really happy after the qualifications but we have been really, really working for this competition for long jump and I just went for it,” said Farkas, who had done a training camp in Chile to prepare. “I’m technically a decathlete so it was a bit challenging to switch to long jump for this competition but we made it.”