Our national youth athletics team begins its challenge at the World Youth Championships, hosted by the Polish city of Bydgoszcz from 19-24 June, with the participation of 60 countries from across the continents represented by 1,518 athletes, including 832 male and 686 female athletes, who will compete for the podium and to bring honour to their countries. The Qatar Athletics Federation, headed by Major General Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad, president of the Qatari and Asian federations and IAAF vice-president, aims to continue preparing future champions by giving young male and female athletes the opportunity to take part in this championship and test themselves against their generation of the world’s youth, while also continuing the run of achievements for Qatari athletics. The Qatar Athletics Federation also hopes for the greatest possible gain from taking part in the Youth World Championships.
Our team is led by world champion Abdalelah Haroun in the 400m, Idris Yousef in the 1500m, Mohanad Khamis Saifeldin in the 3000m steeplechase, Hamdi Al Amin in the high jump, and Moaz Ibrahim in the discus, along with sprinter Mariam Farid in the 200m. The Qatari delegation also includes national teams director Khalifa Abdulmalik and team official Khalid Al Marri, while the technical staff comprises coaches Abdi Bile and Ibrahim Abdi for the long distances, Ali Fadaq and Pavel Stnali for the high jump, and Ivica for throws, along with a medical team made up of Dr Daniel Martinez and physiotherapist Vieira.
Major General Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad, president of the Qatari and Asian federations, expressed his hope that our champions would achieve the best possible results at the World Youth Championships, which has drawn large numbers of well-prepared national teams from across the continents. He said Qatar’s male and female athletics champions will work to put on their best technical showing and reach the podium despite fierce competition, and considered that many of the participating champions would form the nucleus of the future national team, being national talents who have repeatedly proven themselves at a number of continental championships, especially since some of the participants are champions who have already won medals at previous events. He wished our champions focus and success in bringing honour to Qatari sport.
Competition schedule
The first day’s programme includes three finals alongside heats for the boys’ and girls’ categories, as follows: 1500m heats, decathlon 100m, shot put, 3000m steeplechase, long jump, 800m, javelin, 100m, women’s 10km race walk final, men’s shot put final, 10,000m race walk (day two: 400m heats, high jump heats; second day: women’s long jump final, women’s javelin throw, women’s 3000m steeplechase, women’s 1500m, men’s 100m final); third day: the high jump.
Yousef in the 1500m heats
Talented runner Yousef Idris opens Qatar’s participation in the 1500m heats, while tomorrow our champion Abdalelah Haroun competes in the 400m heats, and in the evening Hamdi Al Amin competes in the high jump qualifying round; the day after, three athletes compete in the heats — Mohanad Khamis in the 3000m steeplechase, Haroun in the 400m semi-final should he qualify, and Yousef Idris in the 1500m semi-final should he qualify.
