Great Britain has topped the medal table at the three previous editions of the European Athletics U18 Championships and the men’s track events in Banska Bystrica from 18-21 July could prove a particularly successful area for the British in the SNP Stadium Dukla.
But just over a month after Italy topped the medal table at the European Athletics Championships in Rome, their next generation of athletes will be suitably inspired to try and follow in the footsteps of their senior counterparts next week.
The championships will be streamed live from start to finish through the European Athletics with English-language commentary and with up to three additional streams providing uninterrupted field event coverage.
Exciting 200m clash in store in Banska Bystrica
One of the most exciting head-to-heads of the championships will come in the men’s 200m featuring American-born Brit Jake Odey-Jordan and Italy’s Diego Nappi (pictured), both of whom have already broken the 21 second-barrier at the age of 16.
Odey-Jordan, who is also targeting the World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima next month, leads the entry-list with 20.55 while Nappi made a big improvement at the Italian U18 Championships last weekend, improving from 21.17 to 20.79 to break Filippo Tortu’s Italian U18 record of 20.92.
Given the two protagonists’ recent form, it looks highly likely we will see the first ever sub-21 second 200m clocking at the European Athletics U18 Championships. The championship record currently stands at 21.04 to Italy’s Eduardo Longobardi who won gold in 2022 while the European U18 best belongs to Brit Tom Somers with 20.37.
Fellow Brit Joel Masters jointly leads the entry-list for the 100m with 10.40 alongside Germany’s Jakob Kemminer while the British tradition in the men’s 800m looks likely to continue with Matthew McKenna (1:48.81) and Tom Waterworth (1:48.91) leading the entry-list.
Past winners of the 800m title at the European Athletics U18 Championships have included George Mills (2016) and Max Burgin (2018), both of whom have been selected to compete for Great Britain at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Burgin holds the championship record courtesy of his gun-to-tape 1:47.36 from 2018.
Meanwhile, other Italian gold medal prospects in men's track events include Tommaso Ardizzone who leads the entry-list in the 400m hurdles in 51.71 and Alessio Coppola in the newly introduced 5000m race walk with 20:54.01, an event which replaced the 10,000m race walk.
Toul is the talk of the middle distances
The championships will also provide us with our first glimpse of the very promising Czech middle distance runner Filip Toul who has entered both the 1500m and 3000m in Banska Bystrica.
Still only 16, Toul has already clocked a Czech U18 record of 3:40.98 for 1500m this season which makes him the fastest on the entry-list by almost four seconds from France’s Alois Abraham (3:44.41) and Norway’s Magnus Oyen (3:45.21). Only three other athletes on the entry-list have broken the 3:50-barrier.
And historically, the only Europeans to have run faster for 1500m in his age-group are Niels Laros (3:39.46) and Jakob Ingebrigtsen (3:39.62).
Laros was one of the breakout stars of the last European Athletics U18 Championships, sweeping both the 1500m and 3000m titles. One year later, the Dutchman improved to 3:31.25 and reached the 1500m final at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
Many of the protagonists in the 1500m are due to feature in the 3000m as well. The entry-list is headed by Magnus Oyen with 8:08.27, just ahead of Filip Toul (8:09.11), Italy’s Vittore Simone Borromini (8:10.78) and Serbia’s Aldin Catovic (8:12.76), the latter the winner of last year’s European Youth Olympic Festival in Maribor.
Oyen, 17, recently had the awe-inspiring experience of racing Jakob Ingebrigtsen at the Norwegian Championships in Sandnes last month. He was ninth in the 5000m, breaking the 14 minute-barrier for the first time with 13:59.40.
Strong Spanish prospects in the 110m hurdles and steeplechase
The Spaniards will be hoping to collect a brace of medals in both the 110m hurdles and 2000m steeplechase in Banska Bystrica.
At the Spanish U18 Championships in Malaga last weekend, Anthony Yunier Perez, who only turned 16 last month and will also contest the long jump in Banska Bystrica, won the 110m hurdles (91.4cm) in a national U18 record of 13.38 ahead of Mario Stefanov in 13.42. The Spanish pair is ranked first and second respectively on the entry-list.
And the strength and depth in the steeplechase in Spain is such that Alejandro Domingo, who leads the European U18 list with 5:40.00, has only been named as a reserve after finishing third at the Spanish U18 Championships behind Martin Torregrossa and Bakr El Asri, who have clocked 5:42.41 and 5:43.34 this year.
Based on season’s bests, the men’s 400m could be one of the closest races of the championships with only 0.12 separating Czechia’s Tomas Horak (47.15), Ireland’s Connor Kelly (47.23), Stanisław Strzelecki (47.24) and France’s Milann Klemenic (47.27).
Aside from Laros’ middle distance double, other men’s track highlights at the 2022 European Athletics U18 Championships included Poland’s Marek Zakrzewski winning the 100m title in a championship record of 10.32 and Spain’s David Garcia winning the 400m, also in a championship record of 46.67.
Steven Mills for European Athletics