There was a golden jumps double for Sweden on the final morning session of the European Athletics U18 Championships in Banska Bystrica on Sunday (21).
Evelina Olsson, tenth in the heptathlon, won the long jump with a third round personal best of 6.35m (+0.6m/s). It is the third successive time a Swede has won this title, following the successes of Tilde Johansson in Gyor 2018 and Ayla Hallberg Hossain in Jerusalem 2022.
Lithuania’s Joana Fiodorovaité won silver with a personal best of 6.23m (-0.3m/s). Bronze went to Bulgaria’s Radina Velichkova with 6.16m (+0.5m/s), rounding off a fine week’s work after winning the women’s 100m title on Friday (19).
World and European U18 leader Bori Rózsahegyi of Hungary could not quite find her stride and finished fourth with 6.06m (-1.0m/s) while triple jump gold medallist Brenda Apsīte of Latvia failed to record a mark.
“Before the competition, I knew that I was in a good shape,” said Olsson. “I realised that I needed to jump a new PB if I wanted to finish high. The weather is much better here than in Sweden that is a big plus. My whole team was cheering for me, and it helped to jump long.”
Svensson wins tense jump off
The men’s high jump developed into one of the hardest fought and fascinating competitions of the entire championships. With the bar at 2.08m, eight athletes were in still in contention for the medals.
After 24 attempts in total, the field was reduced to three, with Sweden’s Svante Svensson, France’s Antoine Antczak and Serbia’s Vuk Šolaja all holding their nerve to clear the bar at the third attempt.
The trio moved on to a European U18 lead of 2.11m, a height none of them could quite manage. Solaja perhaps came closest of the three on his second attempt but he was eliminated on countback and had to settle for bronze as Svensson and Antczak with identical records moved into the jump off.
Both failed on another attempt at 2.11m. Then when the bar was moved to 2.09m, Svensson finally broke the deadlock with a superb clearance. On his 12th jump of the day, Antczak could not match the Swede and the medals were confirmed.
“I have been injured most of the season, so it means a lot for me to win a gold medal,” said Svensson. “It cannot be any better: first place and PB. The feeling before the competition was good, I was getting better and better throughout this season. I was really believing in the podium.
In the session’s distance running finals, there were two surprises with European U18 leaders and pre-favourites both being upstaged.
Catovic adds 3000m gold to 1500m silver
Serbia’s Aldin Ćatović upgraded from 1500m silver to men’s 3000m gold in a championship best performance in the Slovakian sunshine. Pre-race favourite Filip Toul of Czechia, winner of Saturday’s 1500m, looked ideally placed in the lead bunch in the opening laps.
But with three laps to go Sweden’s Sebastian Lörstad made a bold break that took its toll on the pack. With 600m metres to go, it became apparent that only Catovic and Italian Vittore Simone Borromini had the capacity to chase the Swede down.
On the final lap Catovic and Borromini had all the momentum and picked off the plucky Lorstad. Catovic held his form best and ran clear to a championship best of 8:07:03, also a European U18 lead. Borromini landed a personal best of 8:09.01 for silver.
On a fruitful morning for Sweden, Lorstad took a richly deserved bronze in 8:11.71, a national U18 best. Toul faded to seventh in 8:23.05.
“I got a silver medal at 1500m and it motivated me to fight today,” said Catovic. “I am happy I showed quality today and I am the European champion. It is wonderful that I broke the championship record after eight years.
“Previously, the holder of this record was my club colleague Elzan Bibic, he got a bronze medal last year at European Indoor Championships in Istanbul. I have two medals from Banska Bystrica now and I want to be like Jakob Ingebrigtsen, he is my inspiration.”
British land 1500m 1-2
The women’s 1500m final produced a British 1-2 with Lyla Belshaw and Isla McGowan wining gold and silver after a tactically astute race that belied their years.
As the fastest athlete in the field, European U18 leader Wilma Bekkemoen Torbiörnss took on the pace from 300 metres onwards. The Norwegian stuck rigidly to the inside, but was tracked every step of the way by Belshaw and McGowan.
Then, as they rounded the final turn, Belshaw made her move and Bekkemoen Torbiörnss could not respond, as McGowan also streamed past. Belshaw also snaffled a championship best of 4:13.01, 1.77 seconds ahead of her British teammate, who also earned a personal best. Despite some anxious glances behind her, Bekkemoen Torbiörnss held on for bronze in 4:16.45.
“I definitely thought about winning this race,” said Belshaw who sought support from retired British 1500m runner Laura Weightman, who is with the British team in Banska Bystrica, in the morning of the final.
“If I wanted to do that, I needed to be at the peak of my condition. I did many speed sessions with my coach. I am so glad that I hit the championship best today.”
European U18 110m hurdles decathlon best for Konso
In the men's decathlon, Portugal’s Denis Hraber was the overnight leader with 3901 points, just 19 clear of European U18 leader Tristan Konso.
But in the sixth event, Konso seized the initiative with a brilliant 13.52 (+0.7m/s) in the 110m hurdles. It was a European U18 best within a decathlon and 0.43 clear of any of his multi-event rivals.
The Estonian may even had contended for a medal in the men’s 110m hurdles final on Friday (19) had he not been disqualified from the semifinal for a false start.
Meanwhile, Hrabar settled for a personal best 14.68 and France’s Kilian Trochain, sitting in bronze after five events, clocked 14.37.
In the discus discipline, Liam Belo Da Silva of Sweden made his move on the leaderboard, landing a championship best 51.91m. Konso, meanwhile, was fourth overall in the discus with 43.14m, ahead of all his major medal rivals.
Then in the pole vault, Konso cleared a personal best 4.60m, higher than all of his decathlon rivals, to take a tight grip on the overall lead. Trochain also performed well, setting a new personal best of 4.50m and Hrabar had to settle for 4.00m. So, going into the final two events, Konso sat on 6438 points from Trochain on 6134 and Hrabar on 5991.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics