Sofia Ennaoui has claimed medals at cross country and on the boards in the last four months and the up-and-coming Polish middle distance runner will be looking to cap her age-group career by claiming a gold medal on home soil at the European Athletics U23 Championships in Bydgoszcz this July.
Ennaoui can already boast a wealth of championship experience which makes it easy to forget that she is still only 21 - and doesn’t turn 22 until the end of the summer season. The Pole missed out on reaching the world 1500m final in Beijing as a teenager by one place in 2015 before going one step better on her Olympic debut last year.
After winning the European under-23 cross country title in Chia in December, Ennaoui picked up her first senior medal at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, claiming bronze in a high quality 1500m final behind Laura Muir and Konstanze Klosterhalfen. Ennaoui is likely to cross paths with Klosterhalfen again in Bydgoszcz and the Pole will be preparing for her upcoming track season with a training stint at high altitude in Iten, Kenya.
[PHOTO src='1281007' size='mediumLandscape' align='right']
“For certain, nothing will distract me. In a training camp somewhere in Europe, there is always a way out - a chance to meet friends - but in Kenya, it is a simple life: waking up, eating, training,” Ennaoui said in a recent interview with Eurosport Poland.
Ennaoui is due to open her track campaign in the Eugene Diamond League in May and while her main aim this summer is to reach the world 1500m final in London - where she has a top-six finish in mind - Ennaoui has outlined her plans to compete in Bydgoszcz en route to the World Championships.
“I'm only interested in a gold medal (at the European U23 Championships) and I will be pursuing it, but of course the main goal for this year is the World Championships in London. I do not hide the fact I would like to reach the finals - that is the minimum.”