Croatia’s Jana Koscak was crowned world U20 heptathlon champion at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima on Wednesday (28) evening.
In cool conditions across the two days, Koscak scored 5807 points to lead a European clean sweep of the podium with Switzerland’s Lucia Acklin (5755 points) and Czechia’s Adela Tkacova (5601 points) taking silver and bronze respectively.
@: Sergio Mateo
“As soon as I crossed the line, I was so happy - I’m really proud of myself and I’m happy I made my country proud,” said Koscak.
Koscak took the lead after producing a 1.81m high jump and the 18-year-old didn’t relinquish the overall lead over the remainder of the two days to win the second European gold medal of the championships.
“I enjoyed the high jump the most, probably because it is my best event but I am definitely the most disappointed in my hurdles performances - I could have done so much better as it was almost half-a-second slower than my personal best,” said Koscak.
@: Sona Maleterova
Having scored a European U18 best of 6293 points in Gotzis, Koscak was tipped to win the European U20 heptathlon last summer but the Croatian was forced to retire on the first day of the competition due to injury.
However, by virtue of a 2006 birthdate, Koscak is eligible to contend for more U20 medalware at next year’s edition of the European Athletics U20 Championships which takes place in Tampere, Finland from 7-10 August.
Steven Mills for European Athletics