British athlete produced the throw of his life to win bronze in the men's hammer in Oregon on a night when China's Chen Jiawei completed the gold double for his throwing team-mates and Jamaica's Michael-Andre Matthew Edwards became the first U20 triple jumper to clear 17 metres this year.

Wyatt Larkins delivered exactly when it mattered on the third evening of the World Athletics U20 Championships, launching a huge personal best of 75.38m with his first attempt in the men's hammer final to claim bronze — Great Britain and Northern Ireland's first medal of the 2026 championships.

The Harrow AC athlete, coached by Jamie Bath, arrived in Eugene ranked only 12th in the field but stayed inside the medal positions from the opening round, with every one of his six throws bettering his previous lifetime best.

"I came in ranked 12th, I got a PR, it was pretty good," said the 19-year-old. "All of my throws were over my previous PB, so it was a great battle. It'll always have a place in my heart. I wasn't even planning to go on the podium, so this is a massive bonus."

Larkins had to hold off a strong late surge from the USA's Kayden Hulet to keep his medal, with the 17-year-old American producing a huge series of his own — 73.71m, then 74.68m, then a final-round 77.55m — to snatch silver. But the gold was never in doubt once China's Chen Jiawei got going. Already the world U20 leader following an 80.39m effort in qualifying, Chen opened with 78.47m and improved to a winning 79.16m in the final round, giving China a second throws title of the championships after team-mate Su Yixin's discus gold on Thursday.

There was plenty more for Great Britain and Northern Ireland to shout about elsewhere on a productive third day in Eugene. Liam Conway produced the run of his life in the men's 3000m, smashing his previous personal best by 10 seconds to finish fourth in 7:50.10, with compatriot Michael Clark 13th in the same race.

Shaikira King booked her place in Saturday's 800m final with the second-fastest time of the semi-finals, 2:02.93, while Casey Musgrave capped a fine championships with eighth place in the 400m final in 53.07.

Ava James battled home 13th in the 3000m steeplechase final and Daniel Emegbor leapt into the long jump final with 7.59m. Samuel Newton sits 21st after five events of the decathlon on 3767 points, Matthew McKenna and Josh Mungin both narrowly missed out on the 800m final with fourth-placed semi-final finishes, while Toby Wright (110m hurdles) and Sophie Thomas (200m) both reached their semi-finals, going on to finish fifth in each.

Mayo Alabi and Jake Odey-Jordan both progressed through the 200m heats, with Alabi going on to finish seventh in his semi-final.

The night's other standout performance in the field belonged to Edwards, who produced a thrilling back-and-forth battle with the USA's Miles Nesmith to win the men's triple jump. Jamaica's Edwards moved to the top with a personal best of 16.71m in the fifth round, only for Nesmith to respond immediately with 16.79m — his second successive PB — before Edwards produced a huge final-round leap of 17.08m to become the first U20 jumper anywhere in the world to break 17 metres this year.

Nesmith settled for silver, while China's Wang Zhuoyue held on for bronze despite being forced to retire from the competition through discomfort after his fifth jump. "I didn't even know I made it. After the fifth round, I got my groove," said Edwards. "It's great to follow in the footsteps of the jumpers I look up to and win a world title."

South Africa's Jan-Hendrik Heymans, meanwhile, made light work of the javelin final, improving his own PB by more than three metres to win with 80.50m — the fourth-farthest winning throw in World U20 Championships history.

India's Ashish Yadav claimed silver with 74.09m, while Dominica's Addison James threw a national record of 73.89m for bronze, becoming his country's first ever world U20 medallist.

Track finals bring championship records for Kiprono and Deleon

The track finals were every bit as dramatic. Kenya's Emmanuel Kiprono produced the run of the night in the men's 3000m, taking more than a second off the championship record and moving to second on the world U20 all-time list with 7:28.28 — just 0.09 outside Yomif Kejelcha's world U20 record from 2016. France's Alois Abraham claimed silver in 7:47.79, with Japan's Ojiro Honda taking bronze in a national U20 record of 7:48.49 as the next eight finishers all set personal bests.

There was a second championship record in the men's 400m, where the USA's Jayden Deleon got the better of fellow American and Olympian Quincy Wilson once again, winning in 44.47 to Wilson's season's-best 44.62 — a repeat of their finish at the US U20 Championships two months earlier. South Africa's Leendert Koekemoer took bronze in 44.96.

Ethiopia enjoyed a dominant one-two in the women's 3000m steeplechase, Almaz Yohannis clocking a world U20-leading 9:15.81 for gold ahead of team-mate Wosane Asefa's 9:30.50, with Kenya's Anatasha Cheptoo taking bronze in 9:37.18 after a fall from compatriot Mercy Chepngeno Koskey saw her require medical attention at the water jump.

Poland's Anastazja Kuś provided one of the shocks of the night in the women's 400m, running down American favourite Ataja Stephane-Vasquez in the closing stages to win in a national U20 record of 51.06 — her first sub-52 clocking of the whole championships. Guyana's Tianna Springer added bronze to become only the second athlete from her country to medal at a World U20 Championships, both coming in this event.