In Eugene, at the Nike Outdoor Nationals, Jake Odey-Jordan claimed the European U20 100m record with less than two months to go before the World U20 Championships. The 18-year-old British athlete stormed to victory in 10.01 and wiped Christophe Lemaitre’s 10.04, set by the Frenchman back in 2009, from the record books.
There were already high expectations surrounding Jake Odey-Jordan before his trip to Eugene. There are even more now. By winning the 100m in 10.01, with a perfectly legal +1.3 m/s wind, the young British sprinter not only took one of the headline races at the Nike Outdoor Nationals, but also wrote a new chapter in European junior sprinting. His time erased Christophe Lemaitre’s 10.04 from 2009 and also broke Adam Gemili’s British U20 record of 10.05, which had stood since his world junior title in 2012.
That 10.01 did not come out of nowhere, however. It is part of what has already been an outstanding 2026 season, one in which the Briton has continued to push the boundaries of what seemed possible at his age. During the winter, he had already made a major statement indoors by running 32.63 over 300m at the VA Showcase, the second-fastest time in American high school history over the distance. That performance also allowed him to break the British record for the rarely contested event, before improving it again in the spring with an impressive 32.43 at the Miramar Invitational.
In April, in Gainesville, he had already turned heads by clocking 9.94 for 100m, albeit with an illegal +3.3 wind. That same weekend, he also set a personal best of 20.33 over 200m, this time in legal conditions, a mark that moved him up to fifth on the European U20 all-time list. More importantly, he claimed a statement win that day against two-time world 100m medallist Trayvon Bromell. A few weeks later, at the Golden Grand Prix in Tokyo, he confirmed his rise with a 10.07 run in the 100m heats, before finishing third in the final in 10.09 behind Noah Lyles and Tate Taylor. Even then, the prospect of a major record later in the summer was beginning to take shape.
It was ultimately in Eugene, on the Hayward Field track, that everything came together. Lining up against Tate Taylor, one of the standout young talents in American sprinting and his training partner with the Texas Titans group, Odey-Jordan delivered in a race of the highest quality. Taylor, himself one of the brightest prospects in world sprinting, finished in 10.10, but it was the Briton who came out on top at the end of a highly anticipated duel between two young athletes who know each other inside out. Although the Eugene track is known for producing fast times, Jake Odey-Jordan, having now broken the European record, could soon become the first European junior athlete to legally break the 10-second barrier.
