Yunus Emre Civelek outdipped European U18 record-holder Eljahro Philipsen in the 110m hurdles final to win Türkiye's first and only gold medal of the European Athletics U18 Championships in Rieti on Sunday (19).
All eyes were on Philipsen who shattered the European U18 best in the heats with 12.98 to improve France's Wilhem Belocian's previous mark of 13.12 although rather unnoticed behind the Dutchman's record-breaking exploits, Civelek also impressed with a 13.13 clocking in the heats.
Philipsen was also by far the fastest in the semifinals this morning with a 13.07 clocking - another time under the pre-championships European U18 best - but as was amply demonstrated in the preceding 100m hurdles final, sprint hurdles finals don't always go to form.
Drawn in adjacent lanes, Civelek and Philipsen were neck-and-neck off the final barrier but the Turkish athlete came off the final hurdle with momentum on his side before producing a dip finish which European 110m hurdles record-holder Colin Jackson would have been proud of, winning the title in 13.08 by just 0.01 from Philipsen.
"First gold for Türkiye, it is a very important result for me. I made my country proud, I made my family proud and I am proud myself. And in the future, I would love to do more important things for my country," said Civelek who also provided fulsome praise to his coach.
"We have done a great work with my coach - she is like a mum to me and we have been working together for more than a year just for this one competition. She was not just a coach, she was a mum," he said.
After gold and silver in the men's 400m hurdles final, Nicolás Ceballos added to Spain's medal tally in the hurdles with bronze in a national U18 best of 13.35 with teammate Guillermo Piñeiro fourth in 13.42.