DeLeon sets championship record to win 400m gold
Jayden DeLeon set a championship record, outdueling fellow American Quincy Wilson to win gold in the men's 400m at the 2026 U20 World Championships.
Video Transcript
What a climax to the evening.
Gold so far, China, Jamaica, Ethiopia, Kenya, Poland, and South Africa.
And one more to come.
They've just about got the javelins off the track and out the way.
What a night it's been.
One last installment of drama.
It'll take about 45 seconds, probably 44 point.
Klimeniuk, national record yesterday.
The French absolutely love him.
European under 18 and under 20 medalist.
Keont Romeshin, has he realized that his compatriot has just scorched to the javelin title?
Jayden DeLeon, he is joint fifth on the all-time list in this age group.
Coetzee Meyer, he said he's come here for one thing and one thing only, the gold.
The South Africans are buoyed after Heymans.
Quincy Wilson, the third best under 20 the world has ever seen.
Is he coming back to his best?
He was the quickest qualifier.
Coetzee Meyer was second, DeLeon was third.
Is that the order in which they finish, the Americans expect from their medalist from two years ago at the Olympics?
Malachi Austin, the South American junior record holder.
He's a sub 45 man and might need to be again.
Godfred Opoku, he ran so well for Ghana in the semis.
Could he rise to the occasion?
Ashfak had to break his national junior record to qualify.
Yes, we can see you, but all eyes are on your compatriot.
And Zeon Davies, really popular Bahamian on the inside.
The three quickest men are in five, six, and seven.
Don't rule out Austin.
He too has broken 45 seconds.
How fast are they going to have to run to win this title?
Coetzee Meyer believes it is going to be a third successive gold for South Africa after Pillay and Ocon winning the last two.
Wilson wants to become the first US champion since 2012.
The final of the men's 400 meters.
The favorites in lanes five, six, and seven.
It's been a wonderful night of athletics.
Is there one more twist of drama in the world's truly global sport?
45 seconds separates one of these young men from a moment of history.
Set.
The crowd roar them on.
What a race in prospect.
Romeshin has gone out hard.
It's pretty even between the three specialists.
There's Wilson trying to close the gap on Coetzee Meyer.
DeLeon has gone out hard.
He's got an advantage at the moment.
Can he hold on?
He beat Wilson to the national title, but Wilson's coming through, and he's dragging Coetzee Meyer with him.
The big three are delivering a big finish.
Coetzee Meyer has got the beating of Wilson.
He's ahead, but can he stay there?
Wilson's closing.
DeLeon's closing.
What a race.
What a finish.
It's DeLeon from Wilson and Coetzee Meyer, 44.48.
It's a new championship record.
The questions were asked.
It was oh so tough.
Coetzee Meyer thought he was making it a hat trick for South Africa.
He's absolutely stunned.
He's run a brilliant race inside 45 seconds.
All three of them below that iconic mark, but somehow DeLeon found the extra gear at the crucial time, and it is he and not his Olympic champion teammate who tastes gold for the United States.
Great race, great call, Rob.
He put it on the line in the first 200 meters.
Coetzee Meyer absolutely slingshot off the bend as we've seen him do, and he looked all over a winner, Rosie.
He looked all over a winner at the top of the straight.
And then it looked like it would be Wilson, but DeLeon rallied.
He went from first to third and back to first.
That takes something remarkable.
It really does.
The mental resilience to just keep going, and by the time he came through that, he was really, really motoring.
You could tell all the momentum was with DeLeon.
Being on the outside as well, you have perhaps a slightly, a slight surprise advantage maybe.
But, wow, brilliant, brilliant running from DeLeon.
It was a wonderful race to watch.
And Bruce, I don't think Coetzee Meyer should go home with his head bowed.
No, no.
He did everything to try and win that race.
He didn't get it wrong.
DeLeon was just magnificent and found something from nowhere.
100% right.
Coetzee Meyer ran exactly the race he had to ra- run.
It's what he's done through the heat and the semifinal.
He's used the bend as a slingshot into the straight.
He looked all over a winner.
He was beaten by two better men on the night.
He's given it his all.
It's a personal best for DeLeon.
Even more importantly, it's a championship best.
Wilson's coming back, Rob.
Wilson's coming back.
He's not where he was as a 17-year-old when he ran 44.1, but he is coming back.
He's coming back strong.
And America, well, they've got so many great 400 meter runners, and they've got two here that are gonna be around for a long, long time It was a fabulous final.
Kokamayr was prepared to sit back, Rosie, until that turn, and here he looks all over the winner.
And it looks like Wilson maybe, and then it was De Leon.
Yeah, like you say, Bruce, he ran the race almost perfectly.
He couldn't have done any more.
The others just managed to dig so, so deep and find something I don't think even they knew they had.
Kokamayr, I hope he can look back and be really, really pleased with this race, 'cause he did execute it so well.
He held on, and he pushed on at the right moment.
Not only a championship record.
In the 40-year history of the World Under 20 Championship, it's the first time all three medalists have broken 45 seconds.
You cannot ask any more than that.
It was a quarter mile of the ages.
Well, Wilson must have won every one but one before tonight.
The record was 44.58.
That's how good it was.
It was a, a race for the ages.
Gee, doesn't he wear his heart on his sleeve, Kokamayr?
You could see his face in the last 20 meters.
The brain was kicking in.
He knew what was happening.
He was so brave.
De Leon, well, he franks what happened here at those championships when he beat Wilson, doesn't he?
But I thought Wilson showed improvement again tonight.
There you are, Rob.
Frame that one.
Take a photo.
That's a bit special.
What a wonderful race to bring the curtain down on an exceptional night of teenage athletics.
De Leon from Wilson from Kokamayr.
Never before have a group of under 20 men going for global gold all broken 45 seconds for gold, silver, and bronze.
The Americans on top for the first time since 2012, and it does look to me as though Wilson, the 16-year-old relay Olympic champion, is coming back to something close to his best form
