2024 European U18 champion Bakr El Asri broke the European U20 record in the 3000m steeplechase at the Vienna Track Night, a World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger meeting, on Saturday (20) evening.
The Spaniard took the victory in 8:24.40 to smash the European U20 record of 8:29.12 set by Denmark’s Axel Vang Christensen. Notably, El Asri’s time was also faster than Jakob Ingebrigtsen's 8:26.81 clocking from 2017, a mark which wasn’t ratified as a European U20 record but topped the European U20 all-time list.
Contesting his first 3000m steeplechase of the year, the 19-year-old shattered his previous lifetime best of 8:49.47 which was set at the 2025 European Athletics U20 Championships in Tampere where he finished fifth.
El Asri took the victory over fellow Spaniard Estanislao Ruiz in 8:24.97 and Switzerland’s Aarno Liebl in 8:26.10.
Czechia's Jakub Dudycha won the men’s 800m in 1:44.79 while Austria’s Caroline Bredlinger won the women’s 800m on home soil in 1:59.64. Hungary’s Zita Urban also won the 3000m steeplechase in 9:35.88.
European 10,000m champion Dominic Lobalu closed the programme with victory in the 5000m in 13:12.80, outsprinting Burundi’s Celestine Ndikumana in 13:13.48. 20-year-old Dutchman Juan Zijderlaan was third in a lifetime best of 13:20.58.
European U20 all-time 3000m steeplechase list
8:24.40 – Bakr El Asri (ESP) – 2026
8:26.81 – Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) – 2017
8:29.12 – Axel Vang Christensen (DEN) – 2022
8:29.50 – Ralf Pönitzsch (GDR) – 1976
8:29.85 – Paul Davies-Hale (GBR) – 1981
8:30.40 – Marcin Chabowski (POL) – 2005
8:31.43 – Günther Weidlinger (AUT) – 1997
8:31.85 – Arsenios Tsiminos (GRE) – 1980
8:32.66 – Yohanes Chiappinelli (ITA) – 2016
8:33.24 – Francesco Panetta (ITA) – 1982