A monster throw in the javelin from Enni Virjonen upended the women’s heptathlon at the European Athletics U18 Championships in Banska Bystrica on Friday (19).
The Finnish athlete added almost 10 metres to her previous best when landing the 500g spear at 51.59m in the third round.
It was a championship best performance in the heptathlon and puts her in command at the top of the leaderboard going into the Friday evening’s final 800m event with 5408 points. It puts her comfortably ahead of France’s France’s Zola Ndouma-Mona on 5099, who recorded a 5.80m long jump and a 41.68m javelin throw.
Overnight leader Thea Brown of Great Britain showed her competitive grit in the long jump discipline earlier. Sweating on two failures, she landed a solid 6.05m (-0.8m/s) in her final attempt, the best of the day and one centimetre clear of Virjonen’s best. It meant Brown retained her lead by 144 points after five of the seven events.
But in the javelin, Virjonen’s game changer put Brown on the back foot with the British athlete settling for a best of 27.41m and a cumulative total of 5089.
Kus revelling in atmosphere
In the women’s 400m, European U18 leader (52.26) Anastazja Kus of Poland eased through, winning the first semifinal in 53.91. Great Britain’s Kara Dacosta also looks a strong medal contender, she won the second semi final in a personal best of 52.79 ahead of the up-and-coming Dutch star Madelief Van Leur in 53.18.
“I really like this stadium, this town and the atmosphere at these championships,” said Kus. “The people here are very nice, and I like running here. I think these championships is a good training before the Olympic Games and it is good to compete against other girls from all over the Europe.
“This track is very fast and everybody is very helpful. I cannot wait for the final tomorrow. This time was very good but still, I think I can go faster. I like this hot weather. it is good for me. I hope for third or fourth lane in the final. My dream is to win a gold medal at Olympics one day.”
The men’s 400m is also shaping up to be a fascinating contest. France's Milann Klemenic ran a European U18 lead to win the third semi final in 47.04. Ireland’s Conor Kelly (47.62) and Croatia’s Dominik Jezernik (47.26) won the other semifinals. Both one lap finals feature on Saturday evening’s session.
Valensin impresses in 200m heats as Odey-Jordan miscalculates
Italy’s Elisa Valensin looked most at home on the Conica track she had earlier praised, winning heat two of the women’s 200m in controlled fashion in 23.60 (+0.3m/s). There was also an impressive display of sprinting from Czechia’s Johanka Safarova, winner of heat five in 23.86 (+0.3m/s).
In the men’s 200m, Portugal’s Pedro Afonso qualified fastest, winning heat 2 in 21.31 (+0.4m/s) but the biggest stir was caused by Great Britain’s European U18 leader Jake Odey-Jordan who slowed dramatically - and far too prematurely - on the home straight in heat 4 when around 10 metre clear.
He was caught by the chasing pack and was eliminated in fourth place with 22.12 (+0.5m/s).
“It is all right. I mean, it is my fault so I cannot be sad about anything but myself,” said Odey-Jordan afterwards.
“It is what it is. It felt good, it was not the fastest run but it felt good. For sure, it could have been sub 21. But it is all good though. I am just out here, it is my first race on this meet, I just tried to get on my legs, nothing hurts me or nothing like that.”
Czech athletes lead 400m hurdles qualifiers
In the women’s 400m hurdles, Czechia’s Nina Radova led the women’s qualifiers, winning heat three in 59.82. European U18 leader Alexandra Stefania Uta of Romania (57.75) was more circumspect in her approach, content to finish second in heat 5 in 1:02.09 to move to the semifinals.
There was also a rare heat win for an Andorran athlete. Alba Vinals secured a safe passage through to the semifinals with victory in the fifth heat in 60.58.
It was a similar story in the men’s event led by another Czech athlete Michel Rada winning in 51.98. Italy’s Tommaso Ardizzone, European U18 leader (51.71) breezed to victory in heat one in 52.77.
European U18 leader Ștefan Ciobanu of Romania (20.45m) safely secured qualification in the men’s shot put with a first round 19.14m. Croatia’s Jan Ferina topped the qualifiers with 19.27m.
The men’s hammer throw qualification was topped by Greece’s Sotirios Gentekos with a personal best 71.55m. European U18 leader Thomas Williams of Ireland (77.31m) had a nervous morning, failing with his first two attempts before landing a final round 67.18m to progress.
European U18 leader Anastasia Boumpoulidi (4.25m) needed three attempts to clear 3.85m to qualify for Sunday’s women’s pole vault final. Czechia’s Adam Cervinka was the fastest qualifier from the men’s 2000m steeplechase heats, winning in 5:53:00.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics