Elzan Bibic is ranked second on the world youth rankings this year and the Serbian duly dominated the boys’ 3000m final which rounded out the first day of competition at the inaugural European Athletics Youth Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Bibic’s lifetime best of 8:01.90, which remained the world leading mark for under-18 athletes until last night, was more than fifteen seconds faster than the rest of the field, and the quickly improving 17-year-old claimed the title in gun-to-tape fashion in 8:09.06.
The destination of the title was all but sealed up from the very early stages with Bibic establishing a clear lead through the first kilometre in 2:43.60 but the silver and bronze medals came down to who possessed the best sprint on a warm evening in the Georgian capital.
Mohamed Mohumed led the chasers at the bell but the German was tiring after trying - in vain - to chase down the leader. He was ultimately run out of the medals with Annasse Mahboub El Hamdouini from Spain and Adrian Garcea from Romania winning the minor medals in 8:20.20 and 8:20.94 respectively with Mohumed fourth in 8:23.14.
The heptathlon was regarded as one of the highlights of the four-day programme with a triumvirate of top multi-eventing prospects taking part and the three protagonists remain in title contention after the first day.
Ukraine’s Alina Shukh produced the standout performance of the first day - a 1.88m high jump - and held the lead with a 14.85m shot put but Austria’s Sarah Lagger clawed back the gap with a 44 centimetre lifetime best in the shot put with 15.06m before finishing her day with 24.92 in the 200m to finish nearly two seconds up on Shukh.
With a solid finish to the day, Lagger holds the lead overnight with 3623 points ahead of Shukh (3588) although the Ukrainian has a strong second day with PBs of 6.18m for the long jump and 54.69m for the javelin. Great Britain's Niamh Emerson, who cleared 1.85m in the high jump, finishes the first day in third with 3579 but she could move up if she approaches her long jump PB of 6.21m at the start of the second day.
A German one-two in the boys’ 100m looked a possibility after the heats but it looks a distinct likelihood after the semi-finals. Marvin Schulte followed up his 10.69 PB in the heats this morning with a 10.60 clocking to win the first semi-final while world youth finalist Milo Skupin-Alfa showed why he is being touted as such a hot prospect by striding to victory in the next semi-final in a European-leading time of 10.43. His previous PB stood at 10.58.
A rare sprint title could be heading to Ireland in the girls’ 100m as Gina Akpe-Moses qualified as the fastest with victory in the first semi-final in 11.67. European leader Keshia Kwadwo - the younger sister of 11.29 performer Yasmin - recovered from a poor start in her semi-final but came through late to win the third semi-final in 11.69.
The fastest under-18 sprinters in Europe will be crowned tomorrow evening. The girls’ 100m final takes place at 8.40pm local time with the boys’ 100m final rounding off the programme at 8.55pm.
But the first medals were handed out right at the start of the programme in the girls’ 5000m walk. The Turkish walkers controlled the pace from the gun and pulled away in the closing stages for the gold and silver medals courtesy of Meryem Bekmez (22:50.22) and Ayse Tekdal (22:58.17) with Spain’s Marina Pena taking bronze (23:05.90).
Elsewhere, world youth discus champion Alexandra Emilianov looks poised to repeat in Tbilisi if her performance in qualifying is an indicator. The Moldovan led qualifying by more than six metres with 54.48m.
Meanwhile, world youth silver medallist Myhaylo Havrylyuk looks set to go one better in Tbilisi after leading qualifying in the hammer with 76.69m.