The U.S. Men Will Vie For Individual Placement At World U20s

* Athletes compete at the USA U20 Championships in January 

Photo Credit: Tavan Smith/MileSplit

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Team USA has landed in Australia. 

And now we're just days away from the World U20 XC Championships, which will take place in Bathurst on Friday and will feature athletes from 47 countries and a contingent from the Athlete Refugee Team.

This will be the 44th edition of the World U20 XC Championships. 

The U.S. men's team, which will compete at the 8K distance, is comprised of a truly dynamic group of athletes, with runners hailing from California, Illinois, New Jersey, Washington, Wisconsin and Indiana. 

Two high schoolers will compete for the squad, including USATF U20 winner Leo Young, a star from Newbury Park High School, and Carmel (IN) senior Kole Mathison, the Champs Sports Nationals winner in December. 

NCAA athletes such as Micah Wilson and Marco Langon, who finished second and third at the U.S. U20 Championships and compete for Wisconsin and Villanova, respectively, are also critical members of the squad. 

Young captured the USATF U20 crown on Jan. 21 in Richmond, Virginia with his thrilling last kilometer kick, which won him the crown in a time of 23:46.8.

Wilson was second in 23:53.4 while Langon was third in 23:53.8. Mathison was the second high schooler to cross the line and was seventh in 24:11.7.

Related Links:

Full World U20 Entry Lists

According to race forecasts by World Athletics, Ethiopia, the winner of the past two World U20 competitions, are once again loaded, as is Kenya and Uganda.

Kenya will feautre Ishmael Kirui, an 18-year-old who has already featured for his country's senior team, along with Reynold Kipkorir Cheruiyot, who last year won a World U20 track title in Colombia with a time of 3:34.02 in the 1,500m. 

The last time an American male medaled at the World U20 Championships came in 2001, when Dathan Ritzenhein, a legendary high school runner who would go on to form success in college and professionally -- he also currently coaches a professional group in Boulder -- was third overall and finished in 25.46. 

Meanwhile, the last American to win the U20 race was Eric Hulst, who won in 1976.

The men's race will take place at 1:30 p.m. AEDT, which is eight hours behind EST. COVID knocked out the last format of this race in 2021, but the last men to score trips to the podium were: Ethiopia's Milkesa Mengesha (23:52), who won; Ethiopia's Tadese Worku (23:54), who was second; and Uganda's Oscar Chelimo (23:55), who was third.

The U.S. Men's Lineup For Bathurst