Divine Iheme, Jake Odey-Jordan, Ethan Franklin and James Arminio broke a British record that had stood for 26 years to win 4x100m silver, as Caitlin Hadfield, Shiloh Omotosho, Casey Musgrave and Camiah Bennett added 4x400m bronze, as Britain closed out the World Athletics U20 Championships with their best medal haul since 2018.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland signed off from the World Under-20 Championships in style, claiming two more medals on the final day at Hayward Field to take their tally to six — two silvers and four bronzes — the country's best return from these championships in eight years.

The headline moment came in the men's 4x100m relay, where Divine Iheme, Jake Odey-Jordan, Ethan Franklin and James Arminio stormed to silver in a European under-20 record of 38.90, breaking a British record that had stood since 2000 in the process.

Only the USA could live with them, Blake Hamilton, Dillon Mitchell, Kyler Brown and Tate Taylor combining for a world U20 record of 38.16 to take gold, with Jamaica claiming bronze in 39.01.

"It feels amazing to be able to bring back a medal to Great Britain," said Odey-Jordan. "Next time we are getting gold, know that." Franklin added: "It is so inspiring seeing other members of our team medal, so we had to do it as well," while Arminio said: "It feels incredible and to break a record that has stood for so many years as well, it is a great feeling."

It capped a remarkable few days for Iheme in particular. At just 16, he became Britain's youngest ever male medallist at a World U20 Championships, closing out a campaign that also included silver in Thursday's mixed 4x100m — meaning he leaves Oregon with two silvers, a world U20 relay record and a European U20 record to his name, on top of the European U18 100m gold and 60m indoor record he already held from earlier in the year.

Just over 90 minutes later, Britain were back on the podium as Caitlin Hadfield, Shiloh Omotosho, Casey Musgrave and Camiah Bennett claimed bronze in the women's 4x400m relay with a season's best of 3:32.08 — the fourth-fastest time in British history. The USA won gold in a world U20-leading 3:29.15, with Australia taking silver in 3:31.39.

"I just wanted to go out there and try to make the team proud, I could not have done it without them," said Hadfield. Omotosho added: "We knew we just needed to showcase how good GB is. Seeing our other teammates get medals motivated us even more to end the competition on a good note," while Musgrave said simply: "I had incredible faith in my teammates," and Bennett was "really grateful the girls put me in a great position."

There was solid representation, too, in the individual 1500m finals, where Lyla Belshaw came eighth in the women's race and James Alexander finished 11th in the men's — both gaining valuable experience in fields won, respectively, by Kenya's Josephine Sembeyo Mancha, who held off a diving USA's Claire Stegall by just 0.04 in a dramatic finish, and team-mate Wilson Chepkwech, who claimed gold in a personal best of 3:37.46 in a Kenyan one-two.

It rounded off a strong championships for Great Britain and Northern Ireland, whose six medals — following Wyatt Larkins' hammer bronze, Otis Poole's high jump bronze and Shaikira King's 800m bronze earlier in the week, on top of the two relay medals — left the team sixth on the overall placings table alongside nine further top-eight finishers. It was achieved, too, without the team's leading gold-medal hope, Phoebe Gill, who was forced to withdraw injured before the championships began, while Liam Conway's fine fourth place in Wednesday's 3000m stood as one of the surprise highlights of the week.

UK Athletics' head of performance pathway Dan Wagner said: "We've seen some really strong performances and results across these championships, but equally important has been the experience the athletes have gained along the way. That combination of performance, experience and learning is what makes a championships like this so valuable. The athletes should be proud of both what they have achieved and how they have represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland throughout the week."

The final day also brought a flurry of gold medals elsewhere. Tate Taylor completed a remarkable treble of individual and relay titles, having already won the 100m and 200m before anchoring the USA's world-record 4x100m, while compatriot Quincy Wilson added a third successive world U20 4x400m gold.

Czechia's Michal Rada upgraded his 2024 world U20 silver to gold in the men's 400m hurdles with a European U20 record of 48.59, and Romania's Alexandra Ștefania Uță won the women's equivalent in a lifetime best of 55.33.

There was late drama in the field, too, with the USA's Simon Rosselli snatching men's discus gold with his final throw of the competition, France's Zackaria Dia clearing 5.80m for pole vault gold, Germany's Clara Hegemann taking women's hammer gold with 68.99m to help her country to a one-three finish in the event, and Egypt's Aseel Osama Abdel Hamid producing a big final-round javelin throw to win her country's first ever World U20 medal — in gold-medal fashion.

Australia's Izobelle Louison-Roe upgraded the silver she won in Lima two years ago to women's high jump gold with 1.92m, with Hungary's Lilianna Bátori taking silver and Spain's Aitana Alonso claiming bronze on countback after both cleared 1.90m.