Friday (16) marks six months until the Rieti 2026 European Athletics U18 Championships, 16-19 July, kick off in Italy, a place where the stars of the future begin their ascent.
As Rieti 2026 nears, here is look at some of Europe’s biggest stars that began their journey at a European Athletics U18 Championships.
Emmanouil Karalis
At the Tbilisi 2016 European U18 Championships Karalis won his first international gold medal with a height of 5.45m, comfortably clearing his next competitor by 15cm.
The next year at just 17-years-old the Greek athlete made his senior world championships debut in London where he placed 17th, but he quickly jumped up to 5.80m at the start of 2018 at the Birmingham 2018 World Athletics Indoor Championships, placing 5th.
Since then he has continued to climb, winning the Apeldoorn 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships; placing second at the Tokyo 2025 World Athletics Championships, Nanjing 2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships, and Rome 2024 European Athletics Championships; alongside a bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Isaac Nader
Nader represented Portugal for the first time a Tbilisi 2016, but his first international was far from a dream as he placed 15th in the 3000m with a time of 8:52.60.
However, this was only the beginning for the Portuguese athlete as he remained a consistent face in the 1500m and 3000m over the following years as he moved up to the senior stage, but he wasn’t ever really in the spotlight.
That is until 2025, where he won bronze at Apeldoorn 2025 in the 1500m, followed by a strong outdoor season that culminated in his surprise performance in Tokyo where he seemingly came from nowhere in the closing moments to become world champion.
Keely Hodgkinson
Storming to 800m gold at the Gyor 2018 European Athletics U18 Championships was Hodgkinson, the beginning of an already impressive medal collection.
The following year, Hodgkinson would start being coached by Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows, who still coach her now, which would soon lead to her breakthrough year in 2021 where she placed second at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics.
Two world silver medals later, Hodgkinson finally got her hands back on a gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics, striding down the final 100m just as strong as she had in 2018.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh
Also at Gyor 2018, Mahuchikh burst into the high jump world, leaping 1.94m - an incredible 10cm further than her next best competitor.
Just the next year, the Ukrainian would confirm her space on the world senior stage despite being just 18-years-old when she won silver at the Doha 2019 World Athletics Championships.
Her jump of 2.04m broke the world U20 record and she became the youngest ever field event medallist in World Athletics Championships history.
Since then she has dominated the high jump scene, where now at 24-years-old she is an Olympic champion and bronze medallist; a four-time world medallist including one gold; a three-time world indoor medallist including one gold; two-time European champion; three-time European indoor champion; and three-time Diamond League champion.
Before taking her Olympic gold in Paris, Mahuchikh warmed up the city at the 2024 Paris Diamond League on 7 July, where she broke one of athletics' longest standing world records when she jumped a beautiful 2.10m.
Mykhaylo Kokhan
The Ukrainian team at Gyor 2018 also saw success from Kokhan who won the men’s hammer with 87.82m (5kg hammer), more than six metres further than second place.
That same year he also competed at the Tampere 2018 World Athletics U20 Championships, where he placed second with the 6kg hammer despite being just 17-years-old.
He also went on to win the European U20 and European U23 titles - the latter twice - before placing third at the Paris 2024 Olympics and Rome 2024 European Athletics Championships.
Sarah Healy
Ireland’s Healy found early career success in Gyor 2018, wining the 1500m and 3000m with incredible prowess, leading both races by more than three seconds.
The following year at Boras 2019 European U20 Championships, Healy brought home her third European medal across two years when she placed second in the 1500m.
Although, she then struggled to immediately transition to the senior stage, her persistence finally meant she found herself back on top after winning the 3000m at the Apeldoorn 2025 European Indoor Athletics Championships.
Rhasidat Adeleke
Stars from Gyor 2018 continued to flow for Ireland with Adeleke who took gold in the 200m with a time of 23.52 despite being the youngest in the final.
Since then she has become one of the key pillars or Irish athletics, going on to win gold at the Tallin 2021 European Athletics U20 Championships over 100m and 200m before transitioning to the senior stage.
Now, Adeleke prefers the longer sprints and at Rome 2024 she placed second in the 400m, alongside helping her teammates win gold in the mixed 4x400m and silver in the women’s 4x400m.
Mattia Furlani
At the Jerusalem 2022 European Athletics U18 Championships Furlani became a European champion for the first time, and the second.
The future Italian poster boy not only won the long jump with a dominant performance of 8.04m, more than 30cm further than the athlete in second, but he also won the high jump with a jump of 2.15m
Since then, Furlani has bloomed on the senior stage, winning an Olympic medal just two years later in 2024, and becoming World indoor and outdoor champion in 2025.
Niels Laros
Another two-time champion was crowned in Jerusalem 2022, this time over the 1500m and 3000m, both of which Laros won by a gap of two seconds.
He continued to dominate the age group championships, winning gold in the 1500m and 5000m at Jerusalem 2023 European Athletics U20 Championships, and gold again but over 800m and 5000m in Bergen 2025 European U23 Championships.
Laros’ talents haven’t been limited to just age group championships though, as in 2024 he set a new Dutch and European U20 record over 5000m; a world U20 record over 1000m; and set a European U20 record to place fifth over 1500m at the Paris Olympics.
In 2025 his rise only continued to soar as he showed himself to be a serious contender on the senior stage, winning the Bowerman Mile, Diamond League final, and placing fifth in the 1500m final in Tokyo 2025.
Angelina Topic
Women’s high jump has another young star in Angelina Topic who won gold in Jerusalem 2022, jumping 1.92m and within just three years has become a consistent global medallist.
Topic also has soared through the European age group championships, also winning Jerusalem 2023 and Bergen 2025, while simultaneously transitioning to the senior stage and continuing to medal.
So far she has won a bronze and two silvers at a European Championships, but in 2025 she equalled Mahuchikh in Tokyo 2025 to take a world bronze alongside the Ukrainian in an emotional moment for the 20-year-old Serbian.