European Athletics U23 Championships

European Athletics U23 Championships

The European Athletics U23 Championships was introduced in 1997, ostensibly to facilitate the transition between the U20 and senior ranks.

The first edition of the championships were held in Turku and the event will be returning to Finnish soil later this year when Espoo, situated just outside Helsinki, stages the four-day championships from 13-16 July.

One athlete who already has her sights set on the championships is Great Britain's reigning European indoor and outdoor 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson. However, the 21-year-old is planning to contest the 400m to improve her speed ahead of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

And this could also be a highly successful championships for hosts Finland with Silja Kosonen and Saga Vanninen graduating into the U23 ranks. Both athletes won gold medals at the European Athletics U20 Championships and World Athletics U20 Championships in the hammer and heptathlon respectively in 2021.

Also watch out for European U20 3000m champion Ilona Mononen from Finland in the middle distance events in Espoo.

Highlights at the last edition of the European Athletics U23 Championships in Tallinn included Kristjan Ceh from Slovenia defending his title in the discus with a championship record of 67.45m and Yaroslava Mahuchikh winning gold in the high jump with a 2.00m clearance, also a championship record. Still only 21, Mahuchikh is eligible to defend her title in Espoo if she chooses to do so.

As well as six championship records, one European U23 record also fell in Tallinn as Germany's men's 4x100m team raced to victory in 38.70 to revise the record books.