After two gruelling days of competition in the blistering heat, 16-year-old Alisa Launonen officially secured the European U18 heptathlon title, holding off a strong fight from Germany’s Svea Funck on Friday (17).
Her win marks back-to-back victories for Finland in the heptathlon at these championships as Enni Virjonen, who is from the same club as Launonen, took gold at the Banska Bystrica 2024 European Athletics U18 Championships with a now-broken national U18 record of 6151 points.
Launonen won with a PB and national U18 record of 6154 points, Funck took second breaking the magic 6000 mark for the first time with 6065 setting a national U18 record, and the Netherlands’ Fleur Favre took third with a big PB of 5822 points after entering the championships ranked 12th.
"The first day was really hot, so that was quite hard for me," Launonen said. "I felt much better today.
" I can definitely improve in shot put and javelin throw as it did not go well, but I tried my best. Then I managed the four PBs so I managed to run fast and the long jump was just great.
"My role model is Saga Vanninen, I know her well, but we do not train together. Coming to Rieti, I felt confident and I knew I could win it. I have my mum here with me and she is my biggest supporter.
"So far, I do not do anything special in my preparation, no special diet or anything different than others. I just enjoyed the competition here, the vibe was very good and the track is really fast. Now I will focus on the [U20] championships next year."
After day one Launonen held the lead by just 28 points over Germany’s Svea Funck who had an incredible birthday where she set a PB in three of the four events on the first day, also equalling her PB in the fourth.
In the first event of day four, long jump, Alisa Launonen set her second PB of the championships with a 6.25m jump on her third attempt, also making her the only athlete to jump beyond 6.00m.
After the long jump there was nearly 300 points separating the Finnish athlete and the German, but Funck put herself back in the fight for gold in the javelin with a throw of 46.51m, closing the gap back down to 100 points.
The Netherlands’ Favre threw an important PB of 37.88m on her way to bronze, completing the list as just the third athlete over 6000 points after six events.
Launonen’s throw of 39.82m was enough to hang on to the lead, but she had come back under pressure with just one event left.
Funck had a PB two seconds faster than the Finn over 800m, but to take the gold she would need to beat Launonen by around six seconds.
It was a smart race from Launonen though, with her Finnish teammate keeping her company for the first 600m as they both stayed within touching distance of the German.
Then with 250 metres to go Launonen launched a subtle attack, creeping up towards Funck ready for the German to attempt to storm away in the final moments.
But the Finnish athlete held on through a lactic fuelled final 100m to cling on to the gold and history.
The pair crossed the line in PB breaking times, but less than a second separated them with both athletes falling harmoniously to the ground after crossing the line.
Isabella Tuulari, also from Finland, was next over the line and she flopped right on top of Launonen embracing her teammate in a sweaty and joyful hug.
Favre was the next athlete over the line, clocking 2:23.85 to get her hands solid on the bronze medal after a great two days.
“Oh my god, I did not know that I was over 6000 points, I never calculate it,” Funck said. "My coaches told me about times, but I was in the zone. These 6065 points is a new German record and I am the first U18 athlete over 6000 points - I cannot believe it.
“The 6000 points were always my aim, I wrote them everywhere, now I achieved them at European championships plus I got the silver medal. I am so blessed.
“Yesterday was my 17th birthday and I got four PBs! Tonight we will have a big birthday and medal party.”
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