Norway’s Anthony Johnsen ran the fastest ever 110m hurdles by a European U20 sprint hurdler at the Folksam GP Göteborg, a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze event, on Monday (24) evening.
The 19-year-old, who recently finished fourth at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Eugene, sped to a 13.35 clocking over the senior height barriers for victory in a non-international 110m hurdles at the beginning of the programme.
While European Athletics only ratifies European U20 records over the 99.0cm barriers, Johnsen’s performance still tops the European U20 all-time list which was previously headed by Great Britain’s Colin Jackson who clocked 13.44 at the 1986 World Athletics U20 Championships in Athens.
The hurdles heights at the World and European Athletics U20 Championships were lowered from the senior height of 106.7cm to U20 height of 99.0cm in the mid-2000s.
As well as being the fastest ever time by a European U20, Johnsen also broke the Norwegian record of 13.44 which was set by Vladimir Vukicevic in 2021.
Other highlights from Gothenburg included Hungary’s Luca Kozak winning the 100m hurdles in 12.79 and Slovakia’s Gabriela Gajanova, who won 800m silver behind Keely Hodgkinson at the 2024 European Athletics Championships, stepping up in distance to win the 1000m in 2:35.55.
European bronze medallist Vanessa Kamga won the discus on home soil with 62.87m and 2024 European bronze medallist Carl Bengström won the 400m hurdles in 49.63.