15-year-old Kelly Doualla blazed to a remarkable 100m gold at the European Athletics U20 Championships in Tampere on Friday (8).
Tampere 2025 is being live streamed on the European Athletics website courtesy of Eurovision Sport.
The precocious Italian, who has set new European U18 bests already this year in the indoor 60m (7.23) and over 100m (11.21), bolted from the gun and scorched away to win in 11.22 (-0.1m/s).
"Huge success" for athlete named after Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
The talented teenager could easily have been fazed by the expectation on her young shoulders. But there was not a sign of it as she started quickest from lane six and left her rival trailing in her wake to win another gold medal in quick succession following her success at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Skopje 18 days prior.
Silver went to Great Britain’s Mabel Akande in 11.41 with Ukraine’s Uliana Stepaniuk grabbing bronze in 11.53. But the night belonged to Doualla who screamed wildly with delight as she celebrated in what were chilly conditions.
“I am very excited for this result,” said the new champion. “I was very emotional in the finish because it was a very important competition for me. This is a huge success for me and for my career. My mum is a big fan of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, so my middle name is also Ann. I have always been following her since my childhood.”
Spanish sprint success continues as Garaiar grabs gold
The men’s race was won by Spain’s Ander Garaiar whose start and pick up gave him an early initiative he never looked like relinquishing. He held his form brilliantly for a clear victory in 10.40 (-0.7m/s). The Netherlands’ Jozuah Revierre and Great Britain’s Teddy Wilson could not be separated and shared silver in 10.47.
France’s Ylann Bizasene, fastest qualifier from the semi finals, never recovered from a sluggish start and placed fourth in 10.50.
But for Spain it was yet another sprints success in 2025, following on from women’s 4x400m gold and women’s 4x100m silver at the World Relays in Guangzhou in March, Jaël Bestué’s victory at the Madrid 2025 European Athletics Team Championships where the women’s 4x100m were second and Paula Sevilla was third in the women’s 400m and five medals across the sprint disciplines at the Bergen 2025 European Athletics U23 Championships.
“I knew I had the possibility to win but I did not exactly know how capable I was,” said Garaiar afterwards.
“It was a bit of a surprise for me. I felt I was very fast out of the blocks and it was an amazing race. In the last 10m, I saw that everyone else was behind me and in that second, I knew I was the champion. I think it will take some time to digest it, but it is a great result for me, and it means a lot.”