Great Britain’s Thea Brown equalled the world U18 high jump lead with a superb 1.87m clearance in the opening day of the women’s heptathlon as the European Athletics U18 Championships got underway in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia on Thursday (18).
It added three centimetres to her previous best and was 12 centimetres more than any of her rivals managed in the second event of the heptathlon.
Earlier in the morning, Brown also clocked a personal best in the 100m hurdles of 13.18 (-0.6m/s), only bettered by Finland’s Enni Virjonen whose time of 13.12 (-0.6m/s) was not only a European U18 heptathlon best but also a world U18 lead for the standalone 100m hurdles.
It meant Brown established a healthy early lead with 2164 points ahead of Germany's Maria Schnemilich (1923 points) and Portugal's Natacha Cande (1903 points) while Virjonen dropped to fifth by virtue of a 1.57m high jump.
Inzoli sets record in sights
European U18 leader Daniele Inzoli safely secured his place in the men’s long jump final with a routine first round leap of 7.52m (+0.3m/s) in qualification.
Inzoli, who is seeking to follow in the spike marks of European silver medallist and fellow Italian Mattia Furlani who won this title two years ago in Jerusalem in a championship record 8.04m, will start as favourite for Friday’s final.
But he has stiff competition in Spain’s Anthony Yunier Perez, who landed a second round personal best of 7.53m (-0.1m/s) to head the two qualifying pools.
“Today, I jumped very easily, I did not have to force it,” said Inzoli afterwards. “It was a very hot day, so I tried to stay fresh and hydrated. The first half of the work is done and now we focus for tomorrow.
“There is a little pressure, the climate and the people - these factors are very intense. but I have to stay relaxed and do my thing. My biggest dream is to beat the record of Furlani.”
It was a nervier morning for Sweden’s Axel Rögo in the men’s pole vault. The European U18 leader needed three attempts to clear his opening height of 4.75m, which was enough to see him through to Saturday’s final.
Kelly overcomes "nightmare" journey
The men’s 400m qualifiers were headed by France’s Milann Klemenic, winner of heat four in 47.78. He was followed by Ireland’s Conor Kelly, who jogged home to win heat 3 in 48.01. Kelly was in bullish mood despite a challenging journey to Banska Bystrica.
“It was a bit of shake out because I had a nightmare coming in,” he said. “The flight was cancelled, the next flight was delayed, then delayed again. I got here, they lost my bag. Nightmare. I was meant to be here on Monday morning but got here on Tuesday early in the morning like 3.00am.
“Today, it was a comfortable run, it was perfect - exactly what I wanted in my heats. I am not thinking about podium, I am trying to take home gold. We will see because it is never going to be easy. But I think I have got all it takes to get it done.”
The women’s 400m qualifiers were headed by European U18 leader and Paris 2024-bound Anastazja Kuś. She is the latest Polish female talent in the one lap discipline and was an impressive winner of heat one in 53.66.
"I am satisfied with my qualification round and I am excited for the semifinals and hopefully the finals. I trained really hard to get to the best physical shape to be ready for European Championships. I would like to run a personal best.
"It is a very good training for the Olympics where I will compete as well. I cannot wait for Paris. The stadium is really nice, I previously competed here at EYOF in 2022," said Kus who has been selected for the women's 4x400m and the mixed 4x400m in Paris 2024.
Greek drama
The women’s shot put qualification was led by Anastasia Andreadi with a first round 17.37m to easily book her place in Friday’s final.
Fellow Greek international and European U18 leader Maria Rafailidou had a bumpier route to the final, needing every attempt to better the automatic qualification distance of 16.60, when she landed a 16.88m throw in the third round.
Germany’s European U18 leader Clara Hegemann topped the qualifiers from the women’s hammer event with a first round 69.51m. She was followed by international teammate Nova Kienast with 69.36m and Ukraine’s Polina Dzerozhynska with 68.16m, both of whom also required just one attempt to secure their places in Friday’s final.
In searing conditions for distance running, France’s Valentine Bastide coped best in the women’s 2000m steeplechase qualifiers, winning the faster second heat in 6:43:98. Britain’s Ava James was second in a personal best of 6:44.37. European U18 leader Nadia Soto also safely qualified in third with 6:44.88.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics