10 Athletes to Look Out for at the IAAF World Youth Championships

The 2015 World Youth Championships in Athletics will take place in Cali, Colombia from July 15th to July 19th . It will be the ninth edition of the biennial International Athletics Competition for the Youth (under-18).Held across 5 days, the venue for the competition is the Estadio Olimpico Pascual Guerrero stadium, with many young aspiring athletes involved in the proceedings. Let us now look at 10 talented and emerging athletes to watch out for in the competition:

#1 Candace Hill (USA) - 100m Sprint Event

USA's Candace Hill, a prodigious 16 year old talent, had smashed her personal best, and a couple of other world records with a timing of 10.98 seconds to win the gold in the 100m event at the Brooks PR Invitational in Seattle this year.

Hill, who has one more year left in the youth age group, sits third in all time world junior list, just 0.10 seconds shy of the world junior record. She is an overwhelming favorite to clinch the gold in the 100m sprint event at the IAAF World Youth Championships, with a lot of hopes riding on her.

#2 Emily Chebet (Kenya) - 3000m Event

The second edition of the African Youth Championships this year had Kenyan distance runner Emily Chebet completely dominating the 3000m event. Totally justifying her famous namesake, she had one of the most phenomenal performances of the year.

She took the gold with a world youth leading time of 9:10:57, her personal best. The middle distance runner has been showing amazing consistency in her performances, as she is expected to win the gold medal at the IAAF Youth Championships this year.

#3 Jaheel Hyde (Jamaica) - 110m Sprint Event

Jaheel Hyde is one prodigious talented athlete from the land that has given us Usain Bolt. The 18-year-old was the World Junior Champion in the 400 m hurdles in 2014, and the winner of the gold medal in 110 m hurdles event in the World Junior Championship in 2013.

He won the gold medal in the 110m hurdles category in the second edition of the Youth Olympic Games with a world record time of 12.96 seconds. There are a lot of hopes riding on this young lad, who won a gold in the previous edition of the competition in the 110m hurdles in Ukraine in 2013.

Being the champion of the 110m event in the competition, he is expected to repeat his performance by many.

#4 Yu Yuzhen (China) - Javelin Throw Event

China’s Yu Yuzhen had set a new Javelin Throw World Youth Best at the 1st Asian Youth Athletics Championships. She needed only one attempt to throw the javelin at a distance of 61.97 m, with a 500g spec.

This youngster is expected by many to clinch the gold in the javelin throw event at the IAAF World Youth Championships, and one can only hope that she brings her best out at the upcoming World Youth Championships.

#5 Sofiya Palkina (Russia) - Hammer Throw Event

Hammer thrower Sofiya Pakina of Russia was one of the main highlights of the Russian Youth Championships this year. She won the gold in the hammer throw event with a throw of 71.54 m.

The throw was only a few centimetres shy of her world-leading mark and personal best of 71.68 m. This makes her the favourite to win the gold at the IAAF World Championships, as no other girl has thrown over 70 m this season.

#6 Jack Hale (Australia) - 100m Event

This talented young athlete from Tasmania stunned everyone with his performance in the Australian All Schools Championships in Adelaide last year in December. The youngster came first in the 100m category with a wind assisted timing of 10.13 seconds, the fastest time ever recorded by a young athlete under any conditions.

His performance has made him one of the favourites for the IAAF World Youth Championships. Let’s see how Hale performs in his favourite event at the Championships, with many expecting him to give the other athletes a run for their money.

#7 Sydney McLaughlin (USA) - 400m Hurdles Event

Last year, Sydney McLaughlin had a timing of 55.63 seconds in the 400m hurdles event at the US Junior Championships, but she was too young to compete at the IAAF World Junior Championships. She’s finally old enough to compete this year, and she has had strong performances in her event on a consistent basis.

At the US Youth Track and Field Trials, she dominated the 400 m hurdles event to win with a timing of 55.28 seconds. This youngster is expected to repeat her performance at the IAAF World Youth Championships.

#8 Beant Singh- India-800m

Beant Singh is the next big hope of Indian athletics. The 16-year-old clinched the gold medal in the 800m category at the Asian Youth Championships this year with an impressive timing of 1:52:26. This makes him the third fastest youth in the world at the moment in the 800m category.

He has to work a lot harder to be able to win a medal at the IAAF Youth Championships, and his coach believes his hardwork and dedication would give him a fair chance at the top 3. Let's see how the youngester performs in the Championships.

#9 Ding Shuo (China) - High Jump Event

Ding Shuos performance on the last day of the 1st Asian Youth Championships held in Qatar was totally worth the Grand Finale. He went over 2.15 m to tie the world-leading mark for the boys category in high jump in 2015.

Having the best numbers this year amongst all the athletes participating in the high jump event, it would be interesting to see how he performs in the event. The youngster is expected to have a podium finish in the IAAF Youth Championships.

#10 Wu Yuang (China) - 400m Event

Wu Yuang had given the most outstanding performance at the Chinese National Youth Championships this year. He had a timing of 47.33 seconds, and won by a huge margin of 1.53 seconds.

Although there are three more runners faster than him who would be competing in the 400m event at the IAAF Youth Championships, Yuang is being taken seriously be all athletes. His performance and consistency has given China a medal contender in an event where they have never won a medal at world stage.