India ends World Athletics U20 Championships with 3 medals; Pooja Singh finishes 7th
Synopsis
Pooja Singh arrived in Eugene as a national senior record holder at 1.93m but cleared only 1.84m in the final, finishing seventh. India still left with three medals — matching their best recent tallies — and a track record at U20 level that has quietly grown from four medals across 16 years to three medals in a single edition.
Key Takeaways
Pooja Singh finished seventh in the women's high jump final at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Eugene , clearing only 1.84m despite a national senior record of 1.93m set earlier this season.
Australia's Izobelle Louison-Roe won gold with 1.92m ; Hungary and Spain took silver and bronze.
India's women's 4x400m relay team finished ninth and last in 3:45.28 .
India's three-medal haul — silvers for Ashish Yadav (javelin) and Basant Kumar Meghwal (high jump), bronze for Shahnavaz Khan (long jump) — matches the country's medal tally from the 2021 and 2022 editions.
Between 2002 and 2018 , India won only four medals in total at the U20 Championships, including golds for Neeraj Chopra ( 2016 ) and Hima Das ( 2018 ).
Pooja Singh, India's national senior record holder in women's high jump, finished a below-par seventh in the final at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Eugene on 10 August, as India concluded their campaign with three medals — two silvers and one bronze.
Pooja Singh's Final
The 19-year-old Pooja had entered the competition as one of the frontrunners, having set a national senior record of 1.93m earlier this year. In the final, she managed to clear only 1.84m before failing all three attempts at 1.87m, forcing her exit from the competition.
Australia's Izobelle Louison-Roe claimed gold with a clearance of 1.92m. Hungary's Lilianna Batori and Spain's Aitana Alonso shared silver and bronze respectively, both clearing 1.90m. Notably, Pooja's personal best of 1.93m — set earlier this season — would have been good enough for gold, underlining the gap between her peak form and her performance on the day.
India's 4x400m Relay Struggles
India's women's 4x400m relay team — comprising Bhoomika Nehate, Tahura Khatun, Tanu Chaudhary, and Thiya Arumugam — finished ninth and last in the final, clocking 3:45.28. The United States won gold in 3:29.15, with Australia taking silver in 3:31.39 and Great Britain claiming bronze in 3:32.08.
India's Three Medals at Eugene
Ashish Yadav opened India's medal account with silver in the men's javelin throw. Basant Kumar Meghwal added a second silver in the men's high jump, while Shahnavaz Khan secured bronze in the men's long jump. The tally of two silvers and one bronze matches India's medal count from both the 2021 and 2022 editions of the championships.
India's Growing U20 Athletics Legacy
India's presence at the World Athletics U20 Championships has grown markedly over two decades. Between 2002 and 2018, the country managed only four medals in total, headlined by Neeraj Chopra's gold in the men's javelin throw in 2016 and Hima Das's gold in the women's 400m in 2018.
Seema Antil claimed India's first-ever medal at the championships — silver in the women's discus throw at the 2002 edition in Jamaica. Navjeet Kaur Dhillon later won bronze in the same event at the 2014 edition in the USA. The 2021 edition brought silver for Amit in the men's 10,000m race walk and Shaili Singh in the women's long jump, plus a bronze for the mixed 4x400m relay. At 2022, Selva Prabhu Thirumaran won silver in the men's triple jump, the mixed relay finished second, and Rupal Chaudhary took bronze in the women's 400m. India managed just one medal at the 2024 edition, with Aarti winning bronze in the women's 10,000m race walk.
With the Eugene campaign now complete, attention turns to how India's emerging U20 athletes — particularly Pooja Singh, who remains the reigning Senior Asian Athletics champion — transition to the senior circuit.
Point of View
But Pooja Singh's seventh-place finish is the story that demands scrutiny. A 1.93m national senior record — enough to have won gold in Eugene — reduced to a 1.84m clearance in the final points to a performance-environment gap that Indian athletics must address: training athletes to peak at global finals, not just domestic or continental ones. The broader medal pattern also reveals a structural truth: India's U20 medals remain almost exclusively concentrated in field events and race walk, with track still largely a gap. Until that changes, three medals will be a ceiling, not a floor.
NationPress
10 Aug 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
How many medals did India win at the World Athletics U20 Championships 2025?
India won three medals at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Eugene — two silvers and one bronze. Ashish Yadav (men's javelin throw) and Basant Kumar Meghwal (men's high jump) won silver, while Shahnavaz Khan won bronze in the men's long jump.
Why did Pooja Singh finish seventh despite being a national record holder?
Pooja Singh, who set a national senior record of 1.93m earlier this season, could clear only 1.84m in the final and failed all three attempts at 1.87m, finishing seventh. The reasons for the underperformance were not officially stated; the result stood in stark contrast to her Asian championship-winning form.
Who won the women's high jump gold at the World Athletics U20 Championships?
Australia's Izobelle Louison-Roe won gold with a clearance of 1.92m. Hungary's Lilianna Batori and Spain's Aitana Alonso took silver and bronze respectively, both clearing 1.90m.
How does India's 2025 U20 medal tally compare to previous editions?
India's three medals in Eugene match the tallies from both the 2021 and 2022 editions. Between 2002 and 2018, India won only four medals across all editions combined, making the recent consistency a notable improvement.
Who were the members of India's women's 4x400m relay team at Eugene?
India's women's 4x400m relay team comprised Bhoomika Nehate, Tahura Khatun, Tanu Chaudhary, and Thiya Arumugam. They finished ninth and last in the final with a time of 3:45.28.
