Similar to the European Athletics Junior Championships, the steeplechase was contested over a distance of 2000 m, as opposed to the usual 3000 m at senior events.
[4][5][6] The hosts, Morocco, topped the table with eleven gold medals, nine of them from the women's section.
On the women's side, Yasmina Azzizi established herself with a heptathlon/100 metres hurdles double; she dominated the former event at regional level later in the decade.
Middle-distance doubles were achieved in both the men's and women's sides, but the winners Sabih Ayman and Mounir Allaoui, were not successful at senior level.
[2] The event was part of a flourish of athletics championships in the mid-1980s in Casablanca, Morocco's largest city.