List of African youth bests in athletics

African youth bests in the sport of athletics are the all-time best marks set in competition by African athletes aged 17 or younger throughout the entire calendar year of the performance. Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) doesn't maintain an official list for such performances. All bests shown on this list are tracked by statisticians not officially sanctioned by the governing body.

Outdoor

Key:

+ = en route to a longer distance
h = hand timing
A = affected by altitude
NWI = no wind measurement

Boys

Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Meet	Place	Age	Ref
100m	10.20 (+1.5 m/s)	Tlotliso Leotlela	South Africa	7 September 2015	Commonwealth Youth Games	Apia, Samoa	17 years, 118 days	[1]
	10.2 A h NWI	Retshidisitswe Mlenga	South Africa	4 March 2016		Germiston, South Africa	16 years, 6 days	[2] [3]
200 m	20.43 (-0.4 m/s)	Sinesipho Dambile	South Africa	15 March 2019	AGN Youth, Junior & Senior Championships	Pretoria, South Africa	17 years, 13 days	[4]
	20.32 NWI	Sinesipho Dambile	South Africa	15 March 2019		Pretoria, South Africa	17 years, 13 days
400 m	45.15 A	Riaan Dempers	South Africa	6 May 1994		Secunda, South Africa	17 years, 63 days	[5]
800 m	1:43.37	Mohammed Aman	Ethiopia	10 September 2011	Rieti Meeting	Rieti, Italy	17 years, 243 days	[6] [7]
1000 m	2:17.59	Japheth Kimutai	Kenya	23 August 1995		Copenhagen, Denmark	16 years, 246 days
1500 m	3:33.72	Nicholas Kiptanui Kemboi	Kenya	18 August 2006	Weltklasse Zürich	Zürich, Switzerland	16 years, 243 days
Mile	3:54.56	Isaac Kiprono Songok	Kenya	20 August 2001		Linz, Austria	17 years, 117 days
2000 m	4:56.86	Isaac Kiprono Songok	Kenya	31 August 2001	ISTAF	Berlin, Germany	17 years, 128 days
3000 m	7:32.37	Abreham Cherkos	Ethiopia	11 July 2006		Lausanne, Switzerland	16 years, 291 days
Two miles	8:16.07	Abreham Cherkos	Ethiopia	28 May 2006		Eugene, United States	16 years, 247 days
5000 m	12:54.19	Abreham Cherkos	Ethiopia	14 July 2006	Golden Gala	Rome, Italy	16 years, 294 days
10000 m	27:02.81	Ibrahim Jeilan	Ethiopia	25 August 2006	Memorial Van Damme	Brussels, Belgium	17 years, 74 days
10 km (road)	28:05	Abayneh Degu	Ethiopia	11 October 2015	Grand 10 Berlin	Berlin, Germany	16 years, 314 days	[8]
20 km (road)	58:20	Phaustin Baha Sulle	Tanzania	17 October 1999	20 Kilomètres de Paris	Paris, France	17 years, 140 days	[9]
Half marathon	1:00:38	Phaustin Baha Sulle	Tanzania	4 September 1999	Lille Half Marathon	Lille, France	17 years, 97 days
Marathon
110 m hurdles (91.4 cm)
110 m hurdles (99/100 cm)
110 m hurdles (106.7 cm)
400 m hurdles (84.0 cm)	48.84	Sokwakhana Zazini	South Africa	17 March 2017	Gauteng North Championships	Pretoria, South Africa	16 years, 175 days	[10]
400 m hurdles (91.4 cm)	48.89	Louis Jacob van Zyl	South Africa	19 July 2002		Kingston, Jamaica	16 years, 364 days
2000 m steeplechase	5:21.36	Nabil Ouhaddi	Morocco	16 July 2006		Rabat, Morocco	16 years, 335 days
3000 m steeplechase	8:12.28	Getnet Wale	Ethiopia	11 June 2017	Fanny Blankers-Koen Games	Hengelo, Netherlands	16 years, 330 days	[11]
High jump	2.25 m	Jacques Freitag	South Africa	1 July 1999		Pretoria, South Africa	17 years, 20 days	[12]
		Breyton Poole		4 November 2017	Western Province Athletics Open Meeting	Cape Town, South Africa	17 years, 226 days	[13]
Pole vault	5.30 m	Kyle Rademeyer	South Africa	29 March 2019	South African U18 Championships	Paarl, South Africa	17 years, 59 days	[14]
Long jump	7.75 m (+1.2 m/s)	Sifiso Miya	South Africa	11 December 2018	AUSC Region 5 Youth Games	Gaborone, Botswana	17 years, 193 days	[15]
Triple jump	16.22 m (+2.0 m/s)	Ineh Emmeanuel Oritsemeyiwa	Nigeria	26 July 2018	African Youth Games	Algiers, Algeria	17 years, 131 days	[16]
Shot put (5 kg)
Shot put (5.44 kg)
Shot put (6 kg)
Shot put (7.26 kg)
Discus throw (1.5 kg)
Discus throw (1.75 kg)
Discus throw (2 kg)
Hammer throw (5 kg)
Hammer throw (6 kg)
Hammer throw (7.26 kg)
Javelin throw (700 g)
Javelin throw (800 g)
Octathlon
	(100 m), (long jump), (shot put), (400 m) / (110 m hurdles), (high jump), (javelin), (1000 m)
Decathlon
	100m (wind) Long jump (wind) Shot put High jump 400m 110H (wind) Discus Pole vault Javelin 1500m
10000 m walk (track)	40:55.96	Yohanis Algaw	Ethiopia	23 July 2016	World U20 Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	16 years, 344 days	[17]
10 km walk (road)	44:47	Zenamarkos Asmare	Ethiopia	7 May 2016	IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships	Rome, Italy	16 years, 36 days	[18]
20000 m walk (track)
20 km walk (road)
50000 m walk (track)
50 km walk (road)
4 × 100 m relay
4 × 400 m relay
Medley relay

Girls

Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Meet	Place	Age	Ref
100 m	11.22 A (+0.2 m/s)	Viwe Jingqi	South Africa	31 March 2022	ASA U18 Championships	Potchefstroom, South Africa	17 years, 42 days	[19]
200 m	23.24 (0.0 m/s)	Favour Ofili	Nigeria	26 June 2019	African Games Trials	Abuja, Nigeria	16 years, 177 days	[20]
400 m	50.99 A	Beatrice Masilingi	Namibia	3 October 2020	Kip Keino Classic	Nairobi, Kenya	17 years, 176 days	[21]
800 m	1:59.74	Diribe Welteji	Ethiopia	12 July 2018	World U20 Championships	Tampere, Finland	16 years, 60 days	[22]
1000 m	2:37.9 h	Zola Budd	South Africa	7 February 1983		Bloemfontein, South Africa	16 years, 257 days	[23]
1500 m	4:02.83	Gudaf Tsegay	Ethiopia	21 May 2014	IAAF World Challenge Beijing	Beijing, China	17 years, 118 days	[24]
Mile	4:17.13	Birke Haylom	Ethiopia	15 June 2023	Bislett Games	Oslo, Norway	17 years, 160 days	[25]
2000 m	5:46.5+	Sally Barsosio	Kenya	16 August 1995	Weltklasse Zürich	Zürich, Switzerland	17 years, 148 days
3000 m	8:39.00	Zola Budd	South Africa	2 April 1983		Durban, South Africa	16 years, 311 days	[26]
5000 m	14:37.94	Birke Haylom	Ethiopia	23 July 2023	Anniversary Games	London, United Kingdom	17 years, 198 days	[27]
5 km (road)	14:53	Medina Eisa	Ethiopia	30 April 2022	Adizero Road to Records	Herzogenaurach, Germany	17 years, 117 days	[28]
10000 m	31:15.38	Sally Barsosio	Kenya	21 August 1993	World Championships	Stuttgart, Germany	15 years, 153 days	[29]
Half marathon	1:08:38	Medhin Beyene	Ethiopia	17 November 2019	Boulogne-Billancourt Half Marathon	Boulogne-Billancourt, France	17 years, 226 days	[30]
Marathon
100 m hurdles (76.2 cm)
100 m hurdles (84 cm)
400 m hurdles	56.50	Kate Obilor	Nigeria	22 July 2001	Nigerian Championships	Lagos, Nigeria	16 years, 5 days	[31]
2000 m steeplechase	6:11.83	Korahubish Itaa	Ethiopia	10 July 2009	World Youth Championships	Brixen, Italy	17 years, 132 days
3000 m steeplechase	9:24.73	Celliphine Chepteek Chespol	Kenya	14 May 2016	Shanghai Golden Grand Prix	Shanghai, China	17 years, 52 days	[32]
High jump	1.96 m A	Charmaine Weavers	South Africa	4 April 1981		Bloemfontein, South Africa	17 years, 36 days
Pole vault
Long jump	6.45 m	Ibifuro Tobin-West	Nigeria	29 June 2001	AAC Region II Meet	Lagos, Nigeria	15 years, 190 days	[33]
Triple jump	13.38 m (+1.5 m/s)	Ibifuro Tobin-West	Nigeria	3 July 2002		Limoges, France	16 years, 194 days	[34]
Shot put (3 kg)	18.18 m	Zonica Lindeque	South Africa	10 April 2021	ASA Age Group Championships	Paarl, South Africa	17 years, 47 days	[35]
Discus throw
Hammer throw (3 kg)	66.99 A	Tharina Van Der Walt	South Africa	13 May 2017		Pretoria, South Africa	17 years, 80 days
Javelin throw
Heptathlon
	100m H (wind) High jump Shot put 200m (wind) Long jump (wind) Javelin 800m
5000 m walk (track)	22:48.25	Ayalnesh Dejene	Ethiopia	18 July 2015	World Youth Championships	Cali, Colombia	17 years, 179 days	[36]
10000 m walk (track)	49:42.48	Janise Nell	South Africa	10 April 2021	ASA Age Group Championships	Paarl, South Africa	17 years, 74 days	[37]
10 km walk (road)
20000 m walk (track)
10 km walk (road)
4 × 100 m relay
4 × 400 m relay
Medley relay

Indoor

Boys

Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Meet	Place	Age	Ref
60 m	6.72	Ahmed Awesu	Nigeria	10 January 2004	Sharon Anderson Memorial	Toronto, Canada	16 years, 96 days	[38]
200 m
400 m	47.35	Victor Akhalu	Nigeria	7 March 2020	NJCAA Championships	Lynchburg, United States	16 years, 160 days	[39]
800 m	1:48.12	Mohammed Aman	Ethiopia	8 February 2011	Meeting Pas de Calais	Liévin, France	17 years, 29 days	[40]
1000 m
1500 m	3:37.61	Melkeneh Azeze	Ethiopia	12 February 2022	PSD Bank Meeting Dortmund	Dortmund, Germany	17 years, 42 days	[41]
Mile
2000 m	4:57.74	Yomif Kejelcha	Ethiopia	28 February 2014	Meeting National en salle de Metz	Metz, France	16 years, 211 days	[42] [43]
3000 m	7:42.05	Yomif Kejelcha	Ethiopia	26 January 2014	Meeting National en salle de Bordeaux	Bordeaux, France	16 years, 178 days	[44] [45]
5000 m
60 m hurdles
60 m hurdles (91.4 cm)	7.87	Nathan Nsakala	Democratic Republic of the Congo	12 February 2017	French U18 Championships	Nantes, France	16 years, 293 days	[46]
High jump
Pole vault
Long jump
Triple jump
Shot put
Heptathlon
	60m Long jump Shot put High jump 60H Pole vault 1000m
5000 m walk
4 × 400 m relay

Girls

Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Meet	Place	Age	Ref
60 m
200 m
400 m
800 m	2:02.64	Diribe Welteji	Ethiopia	10 February 2019	Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais	Liévin, France	16 years, 273 days	[47]
1500 m	4:06.62+	Saron Berhe	Ethiopia	30 January 2024	Czech Indoor Gala	Ostrava, Czech Republic	16 years, 156 days	[48]
Mile	4:24.23	Saron Berhe	Ethiopia	30 January 2024	Czech Indoor Gala	Ostrava, Czech Republic	16 years, 156 days	[49]
3000 m	8:46.01	Gotytom Gebreslase	Ethiopia	4 February 2012		Boston, United States	17 years, 20 days
5000 m
60 m hurdles
60 m hurdles (76.2 cm)	8.58	Manuella Cancade	Cameroon	17 January 2016		Lyon, France	16 years, 104 days	[50]
High jump
Pole vault	4.11 m	Sydney Rothman	South Africa	14 February 2007	14e AV PEC 1910 Indoor	Apeldoorn, Netherlands	16 years, 266 days	[51]
Long jump
Triple jump	13.36 m [lower-alpha 1]	Tessy Ebosele	Nigeria	16 February 2019	Spanish Championships	Antequera, Spain	16 years, 203 days	[52]
Shot put
Pentathlon
	60m H High jump Shot put Long jump 800m
3000 m walk
4 × 400 m relay

Notes

1. 3rd and 5th jumps in series.

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