Croatia’s Jana Koscak added the European U20 heptathlon title to her world U20 title with a tenacious display in the 800m on the final day of the European Athletics U20 Championships in Tampere on Sunday (10) evening, winning gold with 6293 points.
Koscak had led proceedings since clearing a championship best of 1.92m in the high jump but her Hungarian rival Sarolta Kriszt closed the gap on the reigning world U20 champion with an ultra-solid second day and had the Croatian in her sights ahead of the 800m.
Kriszt began her day with a lifetime best of 6.33m in the third round of the long jump to close the gap to 87 points on Koscak who could only manage a best of 5.94m.
The Croatian responded positively with a season’s best of 43.91m in the javelin but Kriszt countered with an effort of 43.51m to ensure the gap would remain less than 100 points heading into the deciding 800m, one of Kriszt’s strongest events.
Koscak still led by a healthy margin of 95 points after six events but the Hungarian is by far the fastest on paper over 800m - 2:08.38 to 2:18.10 - and needed to beat the Croatian by roughly 6.7 seconds, a very plausible task given their respective lifetime bests.
In blustery conditions, Kriszt ran aggressively - and alone - from the gun in a bid to reel in Koscak’s lead but the Croatian defied the form book in the final event, showing newfound endurance to keep the Hungarian in her sights at all times.
Kriszt crossed the finish-line in 2:10.84 with Koscak showing real grit and determination in the home straight, flailing across the line in 2:14.56 to finish within three seconds of the Hungarian to cling on to the title and banish any lingering memories of the 2023 European Athletics U20 Championships when Koscak was forced to retire on day one with injury.
“I was looking forward to this competition and I have been dreaming about this title ever since what happened in Jerusalem. To get the entire collection of the European U18, European U20, world U20 and European Youth Olympic Festival gold - it is the entire collection almost complete,” said Koscak.
Koscak brought her total up to a national record-equalling score of 6293 points, the fourth highest winning score in European Athletics U20 Championships history with Kriszt improving to 6251 points to win silver.
There was also a home medal for the hosts to cheer for as European U18 champion Enni Virjonen graduated to bronze in the U20 ranks, following in the footsteps of Saga Vanninen who won this title in Tallinn 2021.
Virjonen, whose two days was followed with interest by a knowledgeable Finnish crowd, produced a six metre-plus lifetime best of 47.10m which effectively sealed the bronze medal for the 18-year-old who scored 6060 points across the seven events - her first time over the 6000 points-barrier - to complete the podium.
Germany’s Emma Kaul, the younger sister of 2022 European decathlon champion Niklas, performed excellently on her major championships debut, finishing fourth with 5970 points.