India Ends World U20 Championships 2026 Campaign With Three Medals
India’s campaign at the World Athletics U20 Championships has come to a close with three medals in total. The country picked up two silver medals and one bronze medal across three separate events. This result puts India level with its best-ever showing at this tournament. However, not every Indian athlete could add to the medal count this time.
Pooja Singh Finishes Seventh In High Jump Final
Pooja Singh, who holds India’s senior national record in the women’s high jump, ended up in seventh place in the final. The 19-year-old could only clear a height of 1.84m. This is well below her own national record of 1.93m. She tried three times to clear 1.87m but was not able to do so.
The gold medal in this event went to Izobelle Louison-Roe of Australia, who cleared 1.92m. Lilianna Batori of Hungary took the silver medal with a jump of 1.90m, and Aitana Alonso of Spain won the bronze, also with a height of 1.90m.
Even so, Pooja’s season has had some strong moments too. Back in May, she won the gold medal at the Asian U20 Athletics Championships, where she cleared 1.93m, the same height as her national record. Along with this, she also holds the title of reigning gold medallist at the Senior Asian Athletics Championships.
Women’s Relay Team Finishes Ninth In The Final
Apart from the high jump, India’s women’s 4x400m relay team also took part in the tournament. The team made it to the final but finished in ninth and last place, with a time of 3 minutes and 45.28 seconds.
The relay team was made up of four runners: Bhoomika Nehate, Tahura Khatun, Tanu Chaudhary, and Thiya Arumugam.
In this race, the United States won gold with a time of 3:29.15 seconds. Australia took the silver medal with a time of 3:31.39 seconds, and Great Britain won the bronze with a time of 3:32.08 seconds.
India Matches Its Best-Ever Medal Haul
Even though Pooja Singh and the relay team missed out on medals, India still finished the tournament with three medals overall, two silver and one bronze. This matches the medal haul India achieved in both the 2021 and 2022 editions of the championship, making it the country’s best-ever result at this event so far.
These three medals came from three different athletes across three separate events.
Ashish Yadav opened India’s medal account with a silver medal in the men’s javelin throw. After him, Basant Kumar Meghwal won a silver medal in the men’s high jump, and Shahnavaz Khan added a bronze medal in the men’s long jump. Both of these last two medals came on the same day, at the championships in Eugene, in the United States.
India’s Medal Tally
To understand how big this result is, it helps to look at India’s past record at the World Athletics U20 Championships.
Between 2002 and 2018, India won only four medals in total across many editions of the tournament. During this long stretch, two athletes stood out by winning gold medals and later became well-known names in Indian athletics: Neeraj Chopra, who won gold in the men’s javelin throw in 2016, and Hima Das, who won gold in the women’s 400m race in 2018.
India’s very first medal at this tournament came in 2002, when discus thrower Seema Antil won a silver medal at the edition held in Jamaica. Later, in 2014, Navjeet Kaur Dhillon won a bronze medal in the same event at the edition held in the USA.
The 2021 edition brought India three medals. Amit won a silver in the men’s 10,000m race walk, and Shaili Singh won a silver in the women’s long jump. Along with these two silver medals, the mixed 4x400m relay team also won a bronze medal.
A year later, in 2022, India again won three medals. Selva Prabhu Thirumaran took a silver in the men’s triple jump, and the mixed 4x400m relay team also won a silver medal. Rupal Chaudhary added a bronze in the women’s 400m race.
However, in the 2024 edition, India’s medal count dropped sharply. The country managed just one medal that year, a bronze through Aarti in the women’s 10,000m race walk event.
This year’s three medals bring India back up to the same level as its best editions from 2021 and 2022.
Basant Kumar Meghwal Becomes First Indian High Jumper To Win A Medal
One of the biggest stories of this year’s championship is Basant Kumar Meghwal’s silver medal in the men’s high jump. At 19 years of age, he became the first Indian high jumper ever to win a medal at the World U20 Championships.
Basant equalled his personal best with a jump of 2.21m. However, he lost the gold medal to Algeria’s Younes Ayachi on countback, since both athletes had cleared the same height. Countback rules are used in the high jump to decide a winner when two athletes end up with the same result, usually based on who had fewer failed attempts along the way.
Basant trains under coach Sahana Kumari, who is a former national record-holder in the high jump herself. She called this a big moment for both Basant and the country, and said she had always believed he would perform well on a big stage like this one.
Along with his training, Basant also serves as a Petty Officer in the Indian Navy. Since he began working with Sahana Kumari, his jumps have improved by a wide margin. According to his coach, he used to jump around 2.11m before training with her, and this height has now grown to 2.21m.
His first big breakthrough under Kumari’s coaching came earlier this year at the Junior Federation Cup, where he jumped 2.21m for the first time. His coach has said that this was the moment she realised just how much he had grown as an athlete.
The 2026 season overall has been a strong one for Basant. Along with his silver medal at the World U20 Championships, he also won gold at the Asian U20 Athletics Championships earlier in the year.
Basant comes from Anupgarh village in the Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan. He is seen as part of a new group of Indian high jumpers who are following the path shown by Sarvesh Kushare, who has represented India at the World Championships, the Diamond League, and the Commonwealth Games.
Shahnavaz Khan Wins Bronze Despite Cramps And Injury
The men’s long jump event brought India its third medal of the tournament, through Shahnavaz Khan. At 19, he became the first Indian male long jumper to reach the podium at the World U20 Championships.
Going into the event, Shahnavaz was seen as one of the favourites for gold. Earlier in the season, he had set a personal best of 8.30m. However, he was not able to repeat this form at the World Championships. During the competition, he began to feel cramps and also picked up an injury to his heel. Because of this, his best jump on the day was 7.87m, which was still good enough for the bronze medal.
He later explained that his first two jumps had gone well, but the cramps and heel injury started after his third jump. This became the main problem that stopped him from jumping further, even though he had come into the event hoping to set a new personal best, given his good form at the time.
Shahnavaz is from Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh, and this season has been a breakthrough one for him in the long jump. He trains alongside fellow long jumper Sreeshankar Murali at the National Centre of Excellence in Thiruvananthapuram. His personal best jump of 8.30m came at the Inter-State National Championships held in Bhubaneswar.
Although his result at the World Championships fell short of his personal best, a bronze medal at 19 years of age is still a strong start to his career in the long jump. He said his only focus on the day was to finish on the podium and win a medal for India, and that he felt proud and happy he did not miss this chance.
Shahnavaz’s journey in the sport also carries a personal story. Last year, he crossed the 8m mark for the first time at the World Continental Bronze event held in Bhubaneswar. To mark the moment, he wrote “8+ jump, I miss dad” on his bib as a tribute to his late father, Naseemudin.
His father passed away in 2018 due to an illness. Before that, he used to drive a jeep to carry passengers between villages. Shahnavaz has spoken about how the tribute on his bib was his way of remembering his father, and how much he still misses him.
Indian Long Jumpers
Shahnavaz is one of several young Indian athletes now making a mark in the long jump. Sreeshankar, who has won two Commonwealth Games medals, has said that this year has been one of the best for Indian long jumpers as a group. He added that the growing level of competition has pushed everyone, including himself, to do better.
Speaking about Shahnavaz in particular, Sreeshankar said that he always wants to keep improving and works very hard in training. He added that this kind of work ethic shows how far Shahnavaz can go in the sport.
With these results, India’s campaign at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Eugene has come to a close. Two silver medals, from Ashish Yadav and Basant Kumar Meghwal, along with one bronze from Shahnavaz Khan, made up India’s final medal count at the tournament. This places the 2026 edition alongside 2021 and 2022 as one of the country’s most successful showings at this championship.
