From a domestic standpoint, one of the most anticipated events of the European Athletics U18 Championships in Banska Bystrica from 18-21 July will be the women’s 100m hurdles which brings the promise of a gold medal for the host nation.
The championships will be streamed live from start to finish through the European Athletics website and there will also be up to three additional streams providing uninterrupted and dedicated field event coverage.
Frlcikova carries Slovakia’s medal hopes in the 100m hurdles
Slovakia has never won a gold medal in the short history of the European Athletics U18 Championships but Laura Frlickova will be hoping to convert her world U18 leading time into a gold medal in the SNP Stadium Dukla.
Frlickova powered to a Slovakian U18 record of 13.14 at her national championships and the Slovakian favourite also has home advantage on her side as those championships took place in the very stadium which will be staging the European Athletics U18 Championships.
"I was very pleased with 13.14,” said Frličková modestly in an interview with European Athletics ahead of the championships.
“Myself and my coach [Luboš Komárek] certainly did not expect such a great time. In this sense, I have already fulfilled my plan for the season. At the same time, I think that time can still be reduced.”
Her two closest rivals look set to be Germany’s Daryl Ndisi who revised her country’s U18 record with 13.24 at the German U18 Championships last weekend and Poland’s Zofia Rojek who has improved to 13.25 this season.
By contrast, the outstanding favourite in the 400m hurdles is the precocious Romanian Alexandra Stefania Uta who already boasts a lifetime best of 56.31 as well as a wealth of championship experience.
Uta won bronze at the European Athletics U20 Championships last year when she had the distinction of being the youngest medallist at the age of 15. Her European Athletics Championships debut didn’t go quite to plan though, pulling up just before the first hurdle in her 400m hurdles heat.
Now 16, Uta hasn’t reached the form she displayed last season but her season’s best of 57.75 still makes her the fastest entrant for Banska Bystrica. Her season’s best is also faster than the championship record of 58.09 which was set two years ago.
King poised to be crowned 800m champion
Phoebe Gill, who smashed the European U18 best in May with 1:57.86, has opted to miss these championships having qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games by virtue of her victory at the British Championships but an even younger and equally precocious Brit looks set to take up the reins in the 800m.
Still only 15 - although she will turn 16 in the days before the European Athletics U18 Championships - Shaikira King leads the entry-list with 2:02.87 but she lopped another second off her lifetime best on Sunday with a sparkling 2:01.61 clocking, only a fraction outside the world age-15 best of 2:01.46.
British athletes have won two of the three previous 800m titles. Isabelle Boffey won the inaugural title in 2016 before Keely Hodgkinson followed suit two years later, winning gold in a championship record of 2:04.84 which could be living on borrowed time.
Also watch out for Czechia’s Adela Holubova who can also boast an impressive lifetime best of 2:03.33 at the age of 16.
There will also be British medal prospects in the 1500m and 3000m but the rest of Europe will have to overcome Norway’s rising star Wilma Anna Bekkemoen Torbiornoss, 17, who leads the entry-lists ahead of her British rivals in both events with lifetime bests of 4:11.43 and 9:14.61 respectively.
And there is a precedent of athletes winning 1500/3000m doubles at the European Athletics U18 Championships. Switzerland’s Delia Sclabas won both events at the age of 15 at the inaugural edition in 2016 before Ireland’s Sarah Healy followed suit in 2018. On the men’s side, Dutch talent Niels Laros swept both titles in 2022.
The favourite in the 2000m steeplechase is Spain’s Nadia Soto, who holds the world U18 leading time at 6:30.41. The Spaniards could very possibly sweep both steeplechase titles in Banska Bystrica as Soto’s teammates are ranked first and second for the men’s 2000m steeplechase.
Championship records under threat in the 200m and 400m
The Poles have a long and prestigious tradition in the women’s 400m and their newest find in the event is Anastazja Kus.
Still only 17, Kus has already set a lifetime best of 52.26 this season and there is discussion from credible sources in Poland that the teenager could be selected for Poland’s 4x400m team for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games next month.
But her focus next week will be on coming away with the individual 400m title in Banska Bystrica and potentially bettering the championship record which stands at 52.66. Her two closest rivals on paper are Great Britain’s Kara DaCosta and Madelief Van Leur from the Netherlands who have lifetime vests of 53.02 and 53.04 respectively.
Kus’ task has been eased somewhat with Italy’s nascent sprinting star Elisa Valensin opting to focus solely on the 200m individually in Banska Bystrica. The 17-year-old clocked 52.50 in her first serious 400m last month but Valensin will be chasing gold in the 200m instead.
Valensin reduced her lifetime best to 23.15 at the Roma Sprint Festival in May, a warm-up event for the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships where Italy topped the medal table with 11 gold medals, which makes her the fastest by exactly half-a-second from her compatriot Margherita Castellani with 23.65.
On current form, Valensin could also improve the championship record of 23.35 which dates back to the inaugural edition of the European Athletics U18 Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia in 2016.
Gold could also be heading in Italy’s direction in the 5000m race walk. Serena Di Fabio has ownership of the world U18 lead with 22:16.77 which is also half-a-minute faster than the championship record of 22:45.47 which was set in 2018.
In the 100m, watch out for the multi-talented Bulgarian Radina Velichkova who recently won the Balkan U18 title in a European U18 leading time of 11.48 and will also contest the long jump in Banska Bystrica.
One of the most familiar names on the entry-list for Banska Bystrica is Estonia’s Miia Ott who reached the 100m final at the European Athletics U20 Championships last year at the age of 16 and was part of Estonia’s 4x100m team at the European Athletics Championships in Rome last month as well as last year’s European Athletics Team Championships in Silesia where she helped Estonia to a national record of 44.21.
Ott, who has also entered the 200m at these championships, is the fourth fastest sprinter based on season’s bests with 11.61, just behind Velichkova (11.48), Germany’s Lena Anochili (11.56) and Ukraine’s Uliana Stepaniuk (11.60).
Steven Mills for European Athletics