The season is far from over for some of the gold medallists from the Tampere 2025 European Athletics U20 Championships!
We take a look at eight of the winners who will be competing at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo from 13-21 September.
Innes FitzGerald (5000m)
Double European U20 champion Innes FitzGerald will be making her senior British debut in the 5000m at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
Just before her double gold medal-winning exploits in Tampere, FitzGerald shattered the European U20 5000m record with 14:39.56 in London, breaking Zola Budd’s mark of 14:48.07 which had stood since 1985.
And if FitzGerald needs advice for preparing for a championships which will be held in hot and humid conditions, she needn’t look any further than her coach and mentor Jo Pavey who won bronze in the 10,000m at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka.
Hakon Moe Berg (1500m)
A breakthrough was very much on the cards after Hakon Moe Berg sprinted to both the 1500m and 3000m titles at the European Athletics U20 Championships.
And in his very next race, Moe Berg slashed a whopping five seconds off his 1500m lifetime best with 3:30.28 in Pfungstadt to seal his ticket for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo where he will form part of a mighty Norwegian triumvirate in the 1500m alongside Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Narve Gilje Nordas.
Armin Szabados (hammer)
At 19, Hungary’s Armin Szabados is the youngest athlete on the entry-list for the hammer but he won’t be looking to merely make up the numbers in Tokyo.
Szabados won the European U20 title in Tampere by over eight metres with a winning mark of 82.91m with the U20 6kg implement but the teenager is also proficient with the senior implement having achieved a lifetime best of 78.03m this season, putting him 14th on the entry-list.
Lilianna Batori (high jump)
Szabados is joined on the Hungarian team for Tokyo by fellow European U20 champion Lilianna Batori who won high jump gold in Tampere.
Batori, who has cleared 1.93m this year, might be just 18 but she has already accrued a reasonable amount of senior experience, including an appearance in the final at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn just one week before her 18th birthday.
Erika Saraceni (triple jump)
Erika Saraceni won triple jump gold in Tampere in style, breaking the 24-year-old championship record and her lifetime best with 14.24m.
This will be Saraceni’s second major senior appearance of the year. She was also third at the European Athletics Team Championships in Madrid where L’Azzurri successfully retained their team crown.
Conor Kelly (mixed 4x400m)
Conor Kelly was an impressive winner of the 400m title in Tampere and the 18-year-old impressed the Irish selectors sufficiently to earn selection for the mixed 4x400m in Tokyo.
This will be his second experience of major senior competition after competing in the mixed 4x400m at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn where he ran the first leg.
Alice Pagliarini (4x100m)
After finishing fourth in the 100m final in Tampere, Alice Pagliarini ran the first leg of Italy’s gold medal-winning team in the 4x100m, speeding to sprint relay gold in a national U20 record of 43.69.
Pagliarini has been selected as part of Italy’s relay pool for Tokyo 2025.
Lenny Chanteur (4x100m)
Only 19, Lenny Chanteur has received his first call-up to a senior French team in the 4x100m relay.
After somehow making the 100m final in Tampere despite losing a shoe in the semifinal, Chanteur ran the second leg of their victorious team in the 4x100m relay.
