EUGENE, Ore. — For Zachary Jeggo, the road to his first international competition had already included a missed opportunity.
Named to Canada’s team for the World Athletics Relays in Botswana earlier this year, the 19-year-old from Embrun never got to take the track after lingering hamstring issues from the indoor season kept him from competing. Months later, at Hayward Field, Jeggo finally got his chance to wear the maple leaf — and he made the most of it.
Competing at the World Athletics U20 Championships last week, Jeggo advanced to the semifinals of the men’s 400m in his international debut, while also serving as a co-captain of the Canadian team and anchoring the country’s 4x400m relay.
It was a week that tested him, but one that Jeggo left with plenty to celebrate.
He opened his 400m campaign with a fourth-place finish in his heat, running 47.33 seconds to advance on time from the seventh and final heat. The result came at the expense of Canadian teammate Adam Nyarko, who was the first non-qualifier.
Just five and a half hours later, Jeggo was back on the track for the semifinal, but the quick turnaround proved challenging. He finished in 49.15 seconds after cramping in the opening stages, well off the 46.62 Canadian Indoor U20 record he had set earlier this season.
“I cramped up in the first 100 metres and tried my best to finish. It is what it is. I’m super happy to make it. I got to the semis, finished higher than I could when I came in, so it’s top 25 in the world. I’m super happy with that and there’s a lot coming and all my career ahead of me,” Jeggo said.
For an athlete whose season had already been defined by both setback and breakthrough, the semifinal appearance represented another important step forward.
Jeggo’s Canadian U20 record of 46.62 came earlier this year, but his season was interrupted when he was injured at the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships. That injury ultimately kept him out of the World Athletics Relays in Botswana, meaning Eugene marked his first opportunity to compete internationally.
He embraced the opportunity beyond the individual 400m, taking on a leadership role as one of Canada’s co-captains and anchoring the 4x400m relay.
Jeggo, Nyarko, William Tapodi and Ryan Georgeson finished seventh in their heat on Saturday in 3:13.28, finishing 19th overall. The race was made more difficult almost immediately after Jeggo received the baton, when he was forced to leap over an Indian runner who had impeded him in his lane.
“We got boxed in by India and South Africa and speed was gone and I pretty much hit a wall. I was able to reel Italy in back at the end, there wasn’t much we could do,” Jeggo said.
Despite the frustrations, Jeggo left Eugene proud of the experience and of the team he represented.
“Super grateful to have repped the leaf at the World Championships as well as being captain for an incredible group,” he wrote in a social media post following the competition.
Former Lion Carolin Evers was also in Eugene, representing her native Germany in the women’s high jump.
The 18-year-old cleared 1.72m in qualifying, falling short of the 1.83m season best that earned her a place on the German team in June. She did not advance to the final.
Despite the result, Evers embraced the experience of competing on the world stage.
“Not the result I was hoping for, but still proud to have been part of such an amazing experience,” she wrote in a social media post.