It's time! The Jerusalem 2023 European Athletics U20 Championships gets underway today (7) at the Givat Ram Stadium, bringing four days of action featuring the continent’s best young athletics talent.
Here are 10 key storylines to look out for:
1. Serbian stars lead strong team
Serbia have won four gold medals at the European Athletics U20 Championships as an independent nation, but they could win three more this year as well as some minor medals. Leading the Serbian charge are Munich 2022 medallists Adriana Vilagos and Angelina Topic.
Vilagos won silver in Munich behind Greece’s Elina Tzengko – a repeat of the result from the Tallinn 2021 edition of these championships. She is also the double world U20 champion and, as the only athlete in the field to have thrown over 60 metres, the favourite for gold.
Her teammate Topic won European U18 high jump gold in Jerusalem last year and senior bronze in Munich just six weeks later. After improving her Serbian record to 1.97m this year, the 18-year-old is a huge favourite in the high jump but goes in the long jump too, in which she also leads the European U20 rankings with 6.58m.
It would be the first time this double has been achieved in these championships and would emulate Italy’s Mattia Furlani who achieved the feat in the European Athletics U18 Championships in the very same stadium last year…
2. One to watch: Mattia Furlani in the men’s long jump
This time round, Furlani is focussing solely on the long jump, and he has continued to make huge strides in the event this year, extending his personal best to 8.24m along with a marginally wind-assisted 8.44m.
Furlani leads the world U20 list and could even threaten the championship record of 8.17m which dates back to 1987.
3. Niels Laros to showcase his range – but in which events?
The Netherlands’ answer to Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Niels Laros is another prodigious talent who completed a double at last year’s European Athletics U18 Championships, winning the 1500m and 3000m.
This year, he has entered the 800m, 1500m, 3000m and 5000m. He leads the European U20 lists in the 800m (1:44.78), 1500m (3:32.89) and 5000m (13:23.01) and is yet to race a 3000m this year but has the fastest lifetime best of 7:48.25.
While a quadruple is highly unlikely, he could well go for multiple golds once again.
4. Caune’s distance double attempt
Latvia’s Agate Caune is another athlete who is set to go for multiple distance titles. She won 5000m silver aged just 16 in Tallinn two years ago and will be looking to upgrade that silver medal to two golds this week. If she is successful, she will become the third athlete ever to achieve the 3000/5000m double in the European Athletics U20 Championships.
She’s the fastest on paper in both events after dominating the 5000m at the European Athletics Team Championships second division in Silesia with 15:15.21 – the fastest across the three divisions – before clocking 8:39.78 over 3000m in the same arena in the Silesia Diamond League, putting her second behind Zola Budd on the European U20 all-time list.
5. Can either of these men win multiple medals?
Along with Furlani and Laros, there are a couple of other men who could have their eyes on multiple medal hauls at these championships.
If Poland’s Marek Zakrzewski can win both the 100m and 200m, he will be the first athlete to do so since Darren Campbell’s sprint double from 1991. Zakrzewski is the fastest in the field over 200m with 20.78 and won 100m gold at last year’s European Athletics U18 Championships.
Multi-talented Bulgarian Bozhidar Saraboyukov won silver in the high jump at the World Athletics U20 Championships last year. In Jerusalem though, he will target medals in the long jump and triple jump. Saraboyukov leads the European U20 lists for triple jump with 16.19m and sits joint third on the long jump list with 7.81m.
6. Family feeling for the Koscaks
On the final day at the recent Espoo 2023 European Athletics U23 Championships, Markus Rooth and his younger cousin Andrea Rooth both won gold – in the decathlon and women’s 400m hurdles - and Jerusalem 2023 has its own potential family fairy tale brewing, with Croatia’s Jana and Klara Koscak the favourites in their respective events.
Despite being the youngest athlete in the heptathlon, Jana won the European U18 title last year and has continued to improve this year, setting a world U18 best of 6293 points in Gotzis. Her sister Klara leads the European U20 list in the 100m hurdles with 13.22 and has also entered the 400m hurdles and 4x100m.
7. More family silverware...
Likewise, Espoo 2023 also saw Sophie O’Sullivan and Larissa Iapichino, daughters of former world champions Sonia O’Sullivan and Fiona May, add more medals to their family’s trophy cabinets with victories in the 1500m and long jump.
In Jerusalem, Germany’s Vanessa Mikitenko, who goes in the 3000m, is the daughter of two-time London Marathon winner and four-time Olympian (1996, 2000, 2004, 2012) Irina Mikitenko.
Meanwhile, Sweden’s Melwin Lycke Holm – the son of 2004 Olympic champion Stefan Holm who finished 6th in these championships back in 1995 – competes in the high jump.
8. Can Herczeg add European U20 javelin gold to his European U20 record?
Less than two weeks ago, Hungary’s György Herczeg set a huge European U20 record of 84.98m for the men’s javelin. He turns 19 at the championships and will be hoping for more than one reason to celebrate.
His record-breaking throw undoubtedly makes him the favourite for gold in Jerusalem. However, his next best is 79.89m and with Germany’s world U20 silver medallist Max Dehning close behind with a best of 79.13m, it could take something big to win gold.
Perhaps the championship record of 81.53m could be under threat?
9. Who will come out on top in the women’s 800m?
Switzerland’s Audrey Werro will hope to defend the European U20 800m title she won in 2021 but will face stiff competition from Great Britain & Northern Ireland’s Abigail Ives.
Both athletes have broken the two minute-barrier this year with 1:59.67 and 1:59.92 respectively, however Werro has more consistently run in and around two minutes, including at championships – she clocked her lifetime best of 1:59.53 when she win world U20 silver in Cali, Colombia, last year.
Earlier this summer, Werro won the 800m in the first division at the European Athletics Team Championships in Silesia and set a world U20 1000m best of 2:34.89 in Nice to break a mark which had stood since 1982. With all that in mind, the championship record of 2:00.25 from 1983 could well be in danger this week.
10. Will a 48-year-old championship record fall?
The women’s 400m championship record of 51.27 dates back even further, all the way to 1975.
However, the silver medallist from the European Athletics U18 Championships last year, Czech Republic’s Lurdes Gloria Manuel, is in fantastic form and could threaten that mark. She made huge progress at the recent Czech Championships, finishing second in a huge lifetime best of 51.23.
That makes her the fastest in the field by more than one-and-a-half seconds and if she was to repeat that performance this week it would dip under the almost half-a-century-old championship record.
Follow all the action from Jerusalem 2023 here.
Nick Howard for European Athletics