France’s Erwan Konate caused an upset in the men’s long jump, winning gold with a superb leap of 8.25m (+1.7m/s) to get the better of Bulgaria’s European indoor champion Bozhidar Sarâboyukov at the Bergen 2025 European Athletics U23 Championships on Friday (18).
Bergen 2025 is being live streamed on the European Athletics website courtesy of Eurovision Sport.
Konate regains golden touch
Konate is an athlete of significant pedigree, having won world U20 gold in both 2021 and 2022. But he has been struggling to contend on the championship stage again, until now.
The competition looked to be going to script when Sarâboyukov leapt to a season’s best 8.21m (+1.4m/s) in the third round to take a grip on proceedings.
But Konate, whose third round 7.83m had him barely hanging on to bronze, suddenly unleashed his monster leap in round five, setting a French U23 record and adding 13 centimetres to his four-year-old personal best.
The Bulgarian could not respond and had to settle for silver. Courtesy of a third round leap of 7.97m (+2.1m/s) Finland’s Kasperi Vehmaa won bronze.
Diessl powers to hurdles glory
Austria’s big hope Enzo Diessl powered to victory in the men’s 110m hurdles, taking gold in 13.46 (-1.8m/s). The European leader looked to be the class act throughout the competition and he added European U23 gold to the European U20 title he won in Jerusalem two years ago.
He was under pressure from the Netherlands’ Matthew Sophia to his immediate left in lane three. But the Dutch athlete clattered the eight barrier and crashed to the track and out of contention.
Diessl’s customary searing speed off the final hurdle cemented victory with Belgium’s Zeno van Neygen and Elie Bacari mopping up silver and bronze in a personal best of 13.54 and 13.56 respectively.
Sielska follows Skrzyszowska in winning 100m hurdles gold for Poland
Alicja Sielska followed in the illustrious spike marks of fellow Polish international Pia Skrzyszowska by winning women’s 100m hurdles gold.
Skrzyszowska triumphed at the Tallinn 2021 European Athletics U23 Championships, before going on to win gold at the Munich 2022 European Athletics Championships a year on.
Sielska showed that she too has championship quality, winning in 12.91 (-1.7m/s) from Hungary’s Anna Tóth who clocked 13.02 and Slovakia’s Tereza Corejová, who was a further 0.03 back for bronze.
In persistent head winds, Sielska has been the only athlete to dip under 13 seconds throughout the competition and she made her intentions clear earlier in the evening, winning the second semi final in 12.95 (-1.2m/s).
For Tóth, it was a second European U23 medal, having won bronze at Espoo 2023. Corejová qualified eighth fastest from the semi-finals, but running from the outside lane, she stepped up to the occasion in the final, running just 0.01 outside her lifetime best.