The French athlete Sasha Zhoya was crowned, Saturday August 21, world champion under 20 years (U20) of the 110 meters hurdles by improving his own world record with a time of 12 seconds 72 hundredths in the final of the competition, organized in Nairobi (Kenya). In this category, the athletes run with hurdles of 99 centimeters against 106 centimeters for the senior competitions.
Zhoya, 19, had already set the previous U20 record in qualifying the day before with 12 seconds 93 hundredths, falling for the first time in his career below the 13-second threshold. Benefiting from a favorable wind of + 1.0 meter per second, he beat Jamaican Vashaun Vacianna and Pole Jakub Szymansky on Saturday.
“When I started the 110 that’s the performance I wanted to do, but over the past two years there had always been small injuries and big injuries that I struggled with. I started the season with a torn hamchio. Even today during the warm-up, my hips hurt a little (…) but I’m happy to have made a record and I can now take the next step ”, he told reporters after his victory.
The senior category, “Another barrier”
The other Frenchman in this final, Erwann Cinna, finished fifth in 13 seconds and 50 hundredths, his best personal performance. The official record before his two exploits was held by another Frenchman, Wilhem Belocian, in 12 seconds 99 hundredths. This time was then matched by Jamaican Damion Thomas.
Sasha Zhoya, considered a great hope for French athletics in the run-up to the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024, was born in Australia to a French mother and a Zimbabwean father. He divides his time between Australia and France.
He will now tackle the 106cm hurdles in the senior category, while noting that his race on Saturday was not perfect. “There are always little things to improve (…), hurdles are very technical and it’s impossible to be perfect on each hurdle ”, commented Sasha Zhoya before pointing out that moving to taller hedges “Will change things technically, that’s another barrier”.