The Czech tradition in the combined events continued on the fourth day of the World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima with Tomas Jarvinen winning the gold medal, one of three European gold medals on the penultimate day in the Peruvian capital.
Jarvinen won gold with a whopping score of 8425 points - just ten points shy of Niklas Kaul’s world record which dates back to the 2016 edition of these championships - to lead a European 1-2-3 in the decathlon ahead of Poland’s Hubert Troscianka (8230 points) and Florian Vriezen from the Netherlands (7820 points).
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“I am completely shocked,” said Jarvinen. “I know I did my best on the two days. The event I like the most is probably the discus throw and the least is probably the 100m. For the next year, I will try to get to the World Championships.”
The 18-year-old is in his final year of the junior ranks but Jarvinen will also be eligible for the European Athletics U23 Championships in Bergen, Norway next July.
Ostensibly a decathlete, Roko Farkas substituted the ten events for the long jump and the Croatian achieved a significant individual breakthrough.
After leading the qualifying round with 8.15m - his first eight metre-plus jump - Farkas improved to a marginally wind-assisted 8.17m in the fourth round of the long jump final for a commanding victory over Serbia’s Luka Boskovic with 15-year-old Australian Mason McGroder taking bronze with 7.80m.
“I was really happy after the qualifications but we have been really, really working for this competition for long jump and I just went for it.
“I'm technically a decathlete so it was a bit challenging to switch to long jump for this competition but we made it,” said the multi-talented Farkas who has put the combined events on ice this year due to a shoulder injury.
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And in the pole vault, Germany’s Hendrik Muller cleared 5.45m for victory over Japan’s Rikuya Yoshida (5.40m) and Czechia’s Jan Krcek (5.30m).
Steven Mills for European Athletics