Indian athletes returned with three individual medals at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships last week but for the medalists, it was more a case of gold lost than silver or bronze won.

Ashish Yadav, who became only the second Indian javelin thrower to win a medal with his 74.09m throw for silver, blamed lack of practice and injury for his below-par performance.

“My throwing on ground had completely stopped before the competition. I was in rehab, recovering from a knee and hamstring injury and went straight into competition and could not do as well as I had hoped,” Ashish said during a media interaction here on Wednesday.

While even matching his personal best of 79m would have still kept him in second spot, Ashish is now hoping to become the latest addition to the group of 80m plus throwers in the country.

“This was only my second international competition and the previous one, the Asian Under-20 Championships (in May) was disappointing so a medal here is satisfying,” he added. Ashish had failed to cross 70m and placed fifth then.

Basant Meghwal, who missed out on gold in high jump on countback, was equally disappointed. Meghwal finished behind Younes Ayachi of Algeria, having cleared 2.21m in his second attempt.

“I was thinking about gold only but it didn’t happen. I am happy I matched my personal best but if I had done so in my first attempt, I could have got gold. I even tried going for 2.24m but the previous attempt took a lot of effort and my ankle had started paining,” he explained.

Shahnavaz Khan, who won bronze in long jump and has already qualified for the Asian Games, rued the fact that he started cramping after his third jump, which was also his best attempt at 7.84m. “My best normally is in the last three jumps only but I was unable to push harder because of cramps. But I am confident of recovering well in time for Asian Games,” he insisted.

Basant Kumar Meghwal became the first Indian to win a high jump medal at the World Athletics U20 Championships, while Shahnavaz Khan added a bronze in the long jump as India secured two medals on a memorable day in Eugene.

The 19-year-old Meghwal from Anupgarh, a border town in Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar district, cleared a personal best of 2.21m to win silver in the men’s high jump.

Representing the Indian Navy, he produced the landmark performance on the fourth and penultimate day of the championships on Saturday (August 8, 2026).

Algeria’s Younes Ayachi won the gold, while Great Britain’s Otis Poole took the bronze.

All three medallists could only clear 2.21m but failed all their three attempts to sail over 2.24m.

The positions were thus decided on countback based on the number of attempts to clear the previous height.

Ayachi cleared 2.21m in his first jump, while Meghwal and Poole did the same in their second and third attempts, respectively.

Meghwal’s silver also made him the first Indian to win a medal in the high jump at the World U20 Championships.

Coached by former Indian women’s high jump national record holder Sahana Kumari, Meghwal has made a remarkable 10cm improvement this season, raising his personal best from 2.11m to 2.21m.

India’s medal tally then rose to three at the championships after Shahnavaz clinched bronze in the men’s long jump with a best effort of 7.84m.

The 18-year-old produced his best jump in his third attempt, with his series reading 7.67m, 7.72m, 7.84m, 7.52m, 7.83m and 5.37m.

R.C. Jithin Arjunan was the other Indian in the final, finishing eighth with a best jump of 7.59m that he achieved in his first and fourth attempts.

Italy’s Daniele Inzoli won the gold medal with a jump of 7.97m, while Australia’s Mason McGroder took silver with a personal best of 7.96m.

India’s medal campaign at the championships had begun on Friday (August 7, 2026), when Ashish Yadav won silver in the men’s javelin throw.

Yadav became only the second Indian after Neeraj Chopra to win a silver medal in the javelin at the World U20 Championships. Chopra congratulated Yadav after his achievement, calling it “just the start” and expressing his pride in the young thrower.