U.S. wins ninth straight women’s relay gold, with Italy halting streak of American men’s team at eight in a row to secure country’s first relay medal of any kind in meet history in Finland 

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Perhaps it was the only appropriate ending for the United States at the IAAF World U-20 Championships.

During a week in Tampere, Finland where the unpredictable became the norm and flashes of brilliance were surrounded by moments of frustration and disappointment, the range of emotions for the Americans were on full display one last time Sunday during the 4x400-meter relays.

The U.S. prevailed in the women’s 4x400 to extend its streak to nine consecutive World U-20 gold medals, but that celebration was abbreviated inside Ratina Stadium when a dropped baton following the first exchange in the men’s 4x400 final resulted in Italy capturing gold and the Americans losing the race for only the third time in meet history.

Despite the efforts of Baylor’s Howard Fields to rally the U.S. on the anchor leg, he couldn’t catch Edoardo Scotti, who helped Italy secure its first World U-20 relay medal of any kind in meet history in 3 minutes, 4.5 seconds. The Americans achieved silver in 3:05.26, with Great Britain earning bronze in 3:05.64.

“Today I am living my dream,” Scotti told the IAAF. “You can be the greatest and you can be the best.”

Klaudio Gjetja, Alessandro Sibilio and Scotti returned for Italy from the 4x400 lineup that won the European U-20 gold medal last year in front of their home fans in Grosseto in 3:08.68. The addition of Andrea Romani helped Italy achieve an even greater feat Sunday by halting the Americans’ run of eight consecutive World U-20 titles.

“It’s really wonderful,” Romani told the IAAF. “I want to congratulate my teammates because this day will now be our history and I am very happy.”

Newton County GA graduate Elija Godwin ran a strong opening leg to put the U.S. in front, but Brookwood GA junior Nicholas Ramey lost the baton on the exchange, halting the Americans’ momentum. Hazelwood West MO sophomore Justin Robinson ran an impressive third leg to pull the U.S. within striking distance entering the anchor, but Scotti – fourth in the men’s 400 final – wasn’t going to be denied.

“We were faced with adversity and we dealt with it,” Fields said. “We didn’t fold, we kept our composure, so I’m happy.”

It was pure jubilation for the U.S. women, who produced a wire-to-wire victory in 3:28.74, the third-fastest time in meet history.

Symone Mason of Miami (Florida), Oregon’s Shae Anderson, Julia Madubuike of Texas A&M and Florida’s Taylor Manson helped the Americans win their 11th overall title in meet history.

“It felt good,” Madubuike said. “Shae definitely gave me a good head start and I knew Jamaica had a pretty good team and it was going to be close, so all I had to do was run my hardest and cruise in and hand off to Taylor to let her do her thing.”

Manson, who had the lead midway through the 400 final before earning bronze Thursday, made sure a repeat wouldn’t occur in the relay, pulling away from Australia (3:31.36) and Jamaica (3:31.90).

“I just trusted in my training. I knew I could pull it off and I knew we were coming home with the gold,” Manson said. “We weren’t going to accept anything else, so I just kept it strong throughout the whole thing and pushed it all at the end. That was really satisfying. In the open 400, it was disappointing. I wasn’t going to let that happen again.”

Bulgaria’s Aleksandra Nacheva also wasn’t going to let history repeat itself in the women’s triple jump.

After taking silver at last year’s World U-18 Championships in Kenya and finishing second again July 8 by losing on the final jump at the European U-18 Championships in Hungary, Nacheva produced a second-round jump of 46-6.25 (14.18m), the fifth-best wind-legal mark in meet history.

Nacheva, who only took one more jump before passing the final three rounds, elevated to the No. 18 all-time World U-20 performer.

An even longer streak than the U.S. men’s 4x400 was also halted Sunday, with Ethiopia winning its first men’s 3,000 steeplechase title, ending a run of 15 consecutive gold medals by Kenya.

Takele Nigate prevailed in 8:25.35, with Kenya’s Leonard Kipkemoi Bett securing silver in 8:25.39, the first time Kenya didn’t win the title since the inaugural championships in 1986.

Kenya did extend one streak, taking the top two spots in the men’s 800 for the third straight World U-20 final and fifth time in meet history, with Solomon Lekuta clocking 1:46.35 and Ngeno Kipngetich earning silver in 1:46.45.

Ethiopia maintained its dominance in the women’s 1,500 final, with Alemaz Samuel winning her country’s third straight gold medal and fourth in the past five championships in 4:09.67 to hold off Kenya’s Miriam Cherop in 4:10.73.

Switzerland’s Delia Sclabas earned her second bronze medal of the meet, following her 800 performance by running 4:11.98 to grab her country’s first medal in the event since 1994.

Karyna Taranda of Belarus won the women’s high jump title with a 6-3.50 (1.92m) clearance, earning her country’s first medal of any kind in the event.

Kai Chang of Jamaica became his country’s first gold medalist in the men’s discus throw since Fedrick Dacres in 2012 with a second-round mark of 204-7 (62.36m).