WYC

In August 2016, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) had announced that the 2017 edition of the U18 Championships would be the last. This WYC were not the best idea it seemed. 

Sebastian Coe, the IAAF President, commented on the decision, “We decided it’s not the best pathway for those athletes at that stage of their career.  Research has proved that some 90 per cent of the medallists at these Under-18 championships never make it to the senior team.” This poor transition is partly the result of early specialization and good results from early matures. The biological age can be very different between 14-18year olds.

Aside from poor transition through the athlete pathway, it is also very expensive to organise and send teams to this age-group championship all over the world. On the other hand it also gives smaller countries to be involved and give a stage to smaller organizations and IAAF members as well. 

 “We saw that most teams did not travel to the last championships in Cali because it was too expensive,” added Coe. For the last edition in Kenya some big nations will not compete for different reasons (but all name safety): USA, UK, Canada and Australia. 

1st	1999	Bydgoszcz	Poland	16 – 18 July	Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Stadium
2nd	2001	Debrecen	Hungary	12 – 15 July	Gyulai István Atlétikai Stadion
3rd	2003	Sherbrooke	Canada	9 – 13 July	Université de Sherbrooke Stadium
4th	2005	Marrakech	Morocco	13 – 17 July	Stade Sidi Youssef Ben Ali
5th	2007	Ostrava	Czech Republic	11 – 15 July	Městský stadion
6th	2009	Brixen	Italy	8 – 12 July	Raiffeisen Arena di Bressanone
7th	2011	Lille	France	6 – 10 July	Stadium Lille Métropole
8th	2013	Donetsk	Ukraine	10 – 14 July[2]	RSC Olimpiyskiy
9th	2015	Cali	Colombia	15 – 19 July	Cali Olympic Stadium
10th	2017	Nairobi	Kenya	12 – 16 July	Moi Sports Complex Kasarani