Tadese Worku led home team mate Ali Abdilmana in a championship record time of 7min 42.09sec. 

Abdilmana set a personal best of 7:44.55.

Habtom Samuel of Eritrea rounded out the top three, also with a personal best time of 7:52.69.

In the only other final on the track, the Nigerian quartet produced a championship record of 3:19.7, breaking the championship record time they had earlier set in the heats in the morning session.

Poland, who led into the final leg, followed narrowly behind, trailing by 0.1, and India rounded out the medal places.

In the field, Mirè Reinstorf of South Africa won the women's pole vault, as her and France's Elise Russis were the only vaulters to clear 4.15 metres.

Reinstorf won on countback, having cleared 3.95m, 4.05m and 4.15m first time, the latter height handing her an African U20 record, while Heather Abadie of Canada took bronze. 

In the women's 100m, Tina Clayton of Jamaica qualified for the final with the fastest time of 11.34sec, winning the first semi-final.

Namibia's Beatrice Maslingi won the other semi-final in 11.35 and was the second-fastest qualifier for tomorrow's final.

Nigeria's Chinecherem Nnamdi topped men's javelin qualifying, throwing a U20 national record 78.02m.

The first day of the heptathlon saw Saga Vanninen, who is aiming to become Finland’s first ever world U20 heptathlon gold medallist, lead the way on 3638 points. 

Austria's Sophie Kreiner and Estonia's Pippa Lotta Enok complete the top three, though both are more than 200 points behind the leader. 

In the morning session, Maslingi went even quicker, setting an U20 national record in 11.20.

Shortly after, Nigeria’s Imaobong Nse Uko breezed through her heat of the women’s 400m as the quickest overall qualifier, clocking 52.33. 

Poland’s Kornelia Lesiewicz qualified as second fastest, winning an earlier heat in 52.63.

The men's 400m heats rounded out the morning's action, with Mexico’s Luis Aviles Ferreiro leading the way with an U20 national record of 45.63.

There was another U20 national record in the men's hammer, as Czech Republic’s Jan Doležálek reached 77.58m.

On the eve of the event, World Athletics President Seb Coe outlined his happiness at Nairobi's eagerness for the competition to go ahead. 

In a media conference as reported by All Africa, he said: "We had to host the championships in Nairobi because the youths are transiting and we couldn't wait any longer and we are happy the hosts agreed to go on with the championships despite the difficulties from the coronavirus pandemic."

On the importance of the competition, Coe pointed to Kenya's David Rudisha, who brilliantly won 800m gold at London 2012.

"World 800m record holder David Rudisha was once a world junior champion in 2006 and he transited to the seniors going all the way to breaking the world record and this is just a good example of good talent development," said Coe.

The U20 Championships continue tomorrow, with the day's events concluding with the men's and women's 100m finals. 

The Championships are due to come to a close on Sunday (August 22).