Day three of the World Athletics Championships U20, Lima 24 once again offers an action-packed program.

Here are three things to watch out for on Thursday (29) at the Estadio Atletico de la Videna.

Spectacular 400-meter showdowns

On a day that will see eight finals and the first half of the decathlon, two of the most eagerly awaited races will be saved for last. The men’s and women’s 400m finals will introduce the world to some potential stars of the one-lap event.

The women’s final looks to be an open contest and there could be only a narrow difference between the medalists. Paris Olympian Lurdes Gloria Manuel of the Czech Republic was the fastest in the semifinals, winning with 51.91 ahead of Nigeria’s Ella Onojuvwevwo (51.99). USA’s Zaya Akins was an impressive winner of the first semifinal with 52.11, while Elisa Valensin set an Italian U20 record with 52.23 to take second. Canada’s Dianna Proctor put in a strong performance to take the win in the other semifinal with a personal best of 52.59.

The men’s 400m is expected to be a duel between US pair Jayden Davis and Sidi Njie. Davis stormed to victory in the first semi-final with 45.79, while US U20 champion Njie took victory in his semi-final with 46.56 after having to retire well before the finish. Japan’s Kentaro Shirahata was an impressive winner of the other semi-final with 46.30 and will have his eye on a medal.

Preview of the Sprint Events WU20 Lima 24

80-meter men meet in javelin throw final

There is plenty of action on the field on Wednesday and the men’s javelin could prove to be the best performance as Slovenia’s Tom Tersek takes on China’s Wang Xiaobo. They comfortably breezed through qualifying, with Wang throwing 73.83m and Tersek 73.37m. Tersek set a Slovenian U20 record of 80.87m in June and backed that up with 79.44m to win the national U20 title. Xiaobo set his own national U20 record of 80.61m last year and this year his best is 76.84m, which saw him finish third at the Chinese championships.

Germany’s Oskar Janicke broke new ground in qualifying by setting a personal best of 73.02 m and could well be in contention alongside Ukraine’s Illia Saievskyi, who set a personal best of 75.80 m in May.

In the men’s hammer final, Cypriot Iosef Kesidis will try to improve on the bronze medal he won in Cali two years ago. Having thrown 78.53m in qualifying, it would not be a surprise if he broke his national U20 record of 81.07m.

The women’s pole vault final could be dominated by the US pair Hannah Grace and Molly Haywood, who both cleared 4.40m at their national under-20 championships, while the men’s triple jump is likely to feature New Zealand’s Ethan Olivier, an Olympian from Paris who was more than half a metre faster than his rivals with a 17.01m jump.

WU20 Lima 24 gives event preview

Distance superpowers face duel

There will be two middle-distance finals on the track – the women’s 3000m steeplechase and the men’s 3000m – and it would be a huge surprise if the titles were held anywhere other than Kenya or Ethiopia.

Ethiopia has won the last two men’s 3000m titles, Kenya won the five before that, and Kenyan duo Clinton Kimutai Ngetich and Denis Kipkoech should be hard to beat here with best times of 7:48.09 and 7:48.48 respectively. Ethiopians Ybeltal Gashahun and Abrha Gebru finished 1st and 2nd in their national U20 qualifiers and should put in a strong performance, while Norway’s Andreas Fjeld Halvorsen and Dutch athlete Juan Zijderlaan have both run 7:51.

The women’s 3000m steeplechase title has been won by Kenya nine times out of 10, the only exception being 2014 when Kenyan-born Ruth Jebet won for Bahrain. But this should be the year Ethiopia, a growing force in the event, finally takes gold.

Sembo Almayew is by far the fastest athlete with her season’s best of 9:00.83 and is looking to improve on the silver medal she won in Cali two years ago. She looks set to do so after effortlessly racing her run to victory in 9:30.59. Uganda’s Loice Chekwemoi is the second fastest of the finalists with her personal best of 9:24.47.

Preview of the distance events WU20 Lima 24

Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics