The Bergen 2025 European Athletics U23 Championships on 17–20 July will bring together the continent’s most exciting young track talents.
With several athletes already making their mark at senior international level, the women’s track events are poised to deliver some of the most exciting events of the championships.
Bergen 2025 will be streamed live in its entirety through the European Athletics website courtesy of Eurovision Sport where additional streams are available and will be accompanied by expert English-language commentary.
Daily highlights will also be published on the European Athletics YouTube channel.
Sprints (100m-400m)
All eyes will be on Norway’s big medal hope Henriette Jæger who could tackle an audacious double in the 200m and 400m, before returning for the 4x400m relay. She set a national record of 49.62 over one lap at the Oslo Bislett Games last month and is the fastest in the field.
She faces a rare rematch at this championship against Great Britain’s Yemi Mary John, who edged out Jæger to take gold two years ago at Espoo 2023, in race that saw 2024 Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson take bronze.
But Jæger will start favourite this time for the 400m with a blossoming CV as Olympic finalist, world indoor bronze and European indoor silver medallist. In the 200m, Britain’s Success Eduan and Germany’s Holly Okuku have both ran 22.85 this season, just 0.01 quicker than Jæger in her one race over the distance.
In the women’s 100m, 2022 European U18 gold medallist Nia Wedderburn-Goodison of Great Britain heads the entries with a season’s best of 11.16. Her biggest threat could come from Czech record-holder Karolína Maňasová who reached the 60m final at the Apeldoorn 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships and clocked 11.11 at last year’s Olympic Games in Paris, narrowly missing a place in the semifinals.
Also watch out for Wedderburn-Goodison's teammate Faith Akinbileje who also won gold at the 2022 European Athletics U18 Championships but in the 200m. The 19-year-old has improved significantly at the shorter event, improving her lifetime best from 11.51 to 11.19 in 2025.
Distance events (800m-10,000m, 3000m steeplechase, 10,000m race walk)
Audrey Werro is the standout name in the women’s 800m. The twice European U20 champion is a proven championship performer and is in great form as European leader and third on the 2025 world list this year with a 1:57.25 clocking in Bydgoszcz in May.
Her Swiss teammate Valentina Rosamilia won silver at the 2021 World U20 championships, a feat Werro repeated a year on, and is capable of another podium appearance.
The women’s 1500m is wide open with France’s Adèle Gay (4:07:00) and Britain’s Ava Lloyd (4:07.45), the latter a training partner of Keely Hodgkinson, heading the entries on season’s bests.
Spain’s Maria Forero, U23 silver medallist at the Antalya 2024 SPAR European Cross Country Championships and 5000m silver medallist two years ago, will be looking to go one better this time.
Also entered is Denmark’s Sofia Thøgersen, a prolific medallist at European age-group championships, with five medals at U20 and U18 level, including 3000m gold at the Jerusalem 2022 European Athletics U18 Championships.
Vanessa Mikitenko, daughter of German marathon record-holder and London Marathon and Berlin Marathon winner Irina, is another intriguing entrant in the 5000m.
Germany’s Lisa Merkel is comfortably the in-form athlete in the women’s 10,000m, finishing ninth at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships and boasting a season’s best of 31:46.53 which makes her the fastest by over a minute.
But if Latvia’s Agate Caune can rediscover the form that brought her European U20 5000m and 3000m gold at Jerusalem in 2023, she will be a major threat. She has entered both the 5000m and 10,000m.
In the 3000m steeplechase, Finland’s Ilona Mononen who was an impressive winner at the Madrid 2025 European Athletics Team Championships and will be looking to repeat at age-group level. One of her main rivals will be Spain's Marta Serrano who leads the entry-list with 9:24.26 but finished fourth behind Mononen in Madrid.
Having previously been a 20km event on the roads, the race walk events move back inside the stadium over 10,000m in Bergen. Italian duo Giulia Gabriele and Alexandrina Mihai will start as favourites.
Mihai was the silver medallist over the longer distance two years ago and Gabriele was the silver medallist in the same event at the Jerusalem 2023 European U20 Championships.
Hurdles and relays
Two years ago, Ditaji Kambundji won gold in the 100m hurdles in Espoo and has since gone on to win European silver at Roma 2024 and 60m hurdles gold at the Apeldoorn 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships, breaking the European record at the latter.
Hungary’s Anna Tóth won bronze behind the Swiss star two years ago, she is also twice bronze medallist at the world U20 championships and will be looking for a springboard victory in Bergen.
In the 400m hurdles, Britain’s Emily Newnham is the fastest in the field and will be looking for her first individual international medal, having collected 4x400m silver and mixed 4x400m bronze at the Apeldoorn 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships.
In the women’s 4x100m, individual medal contenders Eduan and Wedderburn-Goodison form part a powerful British squad also including 2023 European U20 gold medallist Joy Eze. Switzerland, Germany, France and Italy are also likely contenders.
In the women’s 4x400m, Jæger will be hoping her Norwegian teammates can give her fighting chance of chasing down a medal. But the favourites are Great Britain with individual stars John and Newnham leading an impressive team that also features Rebecca Grieve and Poppy Malik who are also ranked in Europe’s top eight at U23 this year.