18th July 2007 06:51
Melissa Boekelman could get the biggest cheers of this week's European Athletics Junior Championships in the Dutch town of Hengelo as she is, with plenty of justification, the host nation's big hope for a gold medal.Boekelman won the world junior title last year at the age of just 17 and this year is more than a metre ahead of her opponents despite some distractions.
'I had my school leaving exams a few weeks ago and so that had to take precedence but now I've got them behind me and I'm looking forward to Hengelo' said Boekelman.
'This summer so far has been a difficult one because I've had to concentrate on school work. I have also changed my coach since I won the world juniors but training has been going well. In fact, I think I've been throwing better in training than I have in most competitions.'
She could also notch up another medal in the discus, in which she is ranked second this year behind Britain's Eden Francis. 'I like throwing the discus although my first priority is the shot,' added Boekelman.
Another of last year's world junior champions who comes to Hengelo looking to add to her gold medal collection is Romanian hammer thrower Bianca Perie who, at just 17, will still be eligible to compete at the 2009 European Athletics Junior Championships in Serbia.
Perie showed that she is in good form by winning at the IAAF World Youth Championships on Saturday but she should be challenged by Russia's Anna Bulgakova, who finished with the silver medal behind Perie in Beijing last summer but who has improved to 68.49m this
year, the best by a European junior in 2007 and the seventh best of all-time.
Two other world champions from 11 months ago who will try to add continental titles to their global crowns are Croatia's Danijela Grgic in the 400m and Estonia's Kaire Leibak in the women's triple jump.
Grgic is also the reigning junior champion over one lap of the track and leads the European junior lists with 52.63, although it should be remembered that she ran a national senior record of 50.78 to win in Beijing.
'Last year I surpassed what I expected to do at the world juniors, I wanted the gold medal but didn't think I would run so fast. This year it is the same, I'm looking to retain my title and produce a good time,' said Grgic.
Leibak similarly hasn't yet reached the standards she set at the world juniors, when she bounded out to 14.43m but remains the dominate force in her event with the 13.90m she jumped to win for her country in the European Cup Second League and despite the breeze in her face.
Ukrainian javelin thrower Vira Rebryk was another athlete to impress in Beijing, when she set a national junior record of for the silver medal and the 18 year-old university student will be looking to step up a place on the podium this week.
Two reigning European junior champions from the 2005 European Athletics Junior Championships will also try to regain their titles: Latvia's Polina Jelizarova and Britain's Emily Pidgeon, pictured right, in the 3,000m steeplechase and 5,000m respectively.Jelizarova ran a national record of 9:58.76 when finishing fourth in Beijing but will have to improve further if she is to defeat Norway's Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal, who set a European junior record of 9:33.19 last month.
The event could even see a Norwegian one-two