14th July 2013 08:42
Sprints and hurdles
Bulgarian champion Denis Dimitrov will head to Rieti as favourite to follow Jimmy Vicaut as the European junior men's 100m gold medallist. The 19-year-old lowered his national junior record to 10.16 at the Bulgarian championships, a huge PB of more than half a second. Other young speedsters likely to be snapping at his heels are Ireland's Marcus Lawler, Zdenek Stromsik of the Czech Republic, and Denmark's Kristoffer Hari, who have all set national junior records this year.
Britain's Chijindu Ujah, with a best of 10.26, will be another medal threat in the short sprint, while his US-based teammate Nethanee Mitchell-Blake looks set to battle with 2011 World Youth finallist Mickael-Meba Zeze over 200m. Lawler, Hari and Zeze's fellow Frenchman Guy-Elphège Anouman, a World Youth record holder indoors, will also be medal contenders, while the hosts' hopes rest with Eseosa Desalu who dipped under 22 seconds on the Rieti track back in June.
With 10 men under 47 seconds this year, the 400m field is hugely competitive, headed by Poland's 2011 World Youth bronze medallist Patryk Dobek and Russia's emerging talent Pavel Ivashko. Dobek has been close to his PB this year with 46.34 while Ivashko's teammate Danil Peremetov will also be in the medal hunt. Croatia's World Junior semi-finalist Mateo Ruzic should be in the frame if he can get close to his best of 46.30, while Batuhan Altintas of Türkiye comes fresh from the World Youth championships in Donetsk where he ran 46.72, third quickest in the field. Hungary's outside bet Bálint Móricz will dream of matching Marcell Deák-Nagy's national record-breaking victory two years ago.
Britain took first and second in the high hurdles in Tallinn, thanks to Jack Meredith and Andy Pozzi, and will hope for more medals this time through the two Davids, King and Omoregie. But most eyes in the Raul Guidobaldi Stadium will be on Italy's new junior record holder Lorenzo Perini who's the quickest in the field this year by a tenth of a second. Wilhem Belocian of France is closest on paper, followed by Swissman Brahian Peí±a, while Javier Colomo is coming into form with a Spanish junior record.
With sub-50 times this season, Russian pair Timofey Chalyy and Aleksandr Skorobogatko look set to dominate the one-lap hurdles, Chalyy aiming to improve on seventh at the World Juniors last summer. Briton Jacob Paul and Poland's Patryk Adamczyk should figure among those fighting for the minor medals.
Endurance
Patrick Zwicker's outstanding PB of 1:46.04 at the Sparkassen Cup last month makes him a big favourite for the 800m title. Being more than a second and a half quicker on paper is no guarantee of success at a championships, however, and the German prodigy will need to look out for Spain's Daniel Andújar, the other sub-1:48 man in the field. With six among Europe's top 12, Britain have huge strength in depth and Richard Charles is their main hope of a medal. Austria's Nikolaus Franzmair and Frenchman Leo Morgana will also have podium hopes.
Britons pack the 1500m standings too, and although their quickest man, James McMurray, is not in the field, both Matthew McLaughlin and Jake Wightman are in form to follow Tallinn champion Adam Cotton to the top of the podium. McLaughlin broke the national junior indoor record in January. Türkiye's junior record holer, Süleyman Bekmezci, holds the year's quickest time, while Ireland have medal hopes through Shane Fitzsimons who sliced five seconds from his PB in Belfast three weeks ago.
Another Turk, Ali Kaya (former Kenyan Stephen Kiprotich), stands out in the 5000m, with Britain's Jonathan Davies and Belgian Steven Casteele the best of the rest. The story's less clear in the 10,000m where Italy's Dini twins, Lorenzo and Samuele, will look to use home advantage against Russia's top-ranked Mikhail Strelkov, Turkish pair Sabahattin Yildrimici and Adem Karagoz, and Croatia's Dino Bosnjak.
Russia's Viktor Bakharev aims to follow in the barrier-hopping footsteps of Ilgizar Safiulin who dominated the steeplechase two years ago, but Britain's World Youth and World Junior finallist Zak Seddon will be clear favourite after lowering his PB to 8:34.42 in Stanford earlier this year. Another set of Italian twins, Ala and Osama Zoghlami, have also run sub-9 minutes this year, while Spain's Jonathan Romeo, Sweden's Napoleon Solomon, German Philipp Reinhardt and French pair Daniel Delattre and Mohammed El Yarroumi are other potential contenders.
Field events
With eight men over 2.18 this season, the men's high jump could be the most open event on the whole programme. As ever in this event, Russia will be strong, in this case through national junior champion Mikhail Akimenko and World Youth silver medallist Usman Usmanov. Germany's Falk Wendrich is not in the field, but Britain's Chris Kandu, Andrei Skabeika of Belarus, Bulgarian Tihomir Ivanov, Ukraine's Vladyslav Dorofyeyev and Igacio Vigo of Spain are all at the same level as the Russians.
France finished first and second in Tallinn and Axel Chapelle is targeting another medal for the continent's great pole vaulting nation in Rieti. Chapelle has cleared 5.20 outdoors this year but topped out at an impressive 5.35 indoors. The leading outdoor vaulter in the field is Sweden's Melker Sví¤rd-Jacobsson who's cleared 5.50 indoors and out this year, while the new Norwegian junior record holder Eirik Greibrokk Dolve has improved from 5.01 to 5.31 in 2013. Leonid Kobolev of Russia has been over 5.30 this year, while Oleg Zernikel and Daniel Spiegelhoff from Germany are close behind.
With a best of 7.91 this year, Fabian Heinle is the one long jumper in the field with eight metres in his sights. The German's biggest threat should come from British pair Feron Sayers and Elliott Safo, and Greek jumper Nikólaos Xenikákis, who have all been beyond 7.90. Look out too for French sprinter Guy-Elphège Anouman who has a windy 7.82 to his name and was a World Junior finallist in this event last year.
France have great hopes of at least one medal in the triple jump where Jean-Noël Cretinoir is one of only two 16m-plus leapers in the field. Cretinoir was fifth at the 2011 World Youth championships and has reached 16.25 this year, not to mention 16.34 indoors and a windy 16.45 outside, while Armenian Levon Aghasyan has been some way short of his best of 16.33 in 2013. Cretinoir's teammate Jean-Marc Pontvianne is not far behind these two at 15.81, while Russia appear to have left their two big jumpers, Yevgeniy Ognev and Aleksey Postnov, out of the team in favour of Vladimir Kozlov.
It could be an all-Balkan tussle in the shot where Mesud Pezer of Bosnia Herzegovina leads Croatia's Filip Mihaljevic in the rankings by just 5cm with a best of 20.40m, followed closely by 19.90-thrower Tomas Djurovic of Montenegro. Pezer, a World Youth and Junior finallist in the last two years, has thrown five national records with different implements this year and reached 18.45 in senior competition. Mihaljevic, meanwhile, has improved by more than two metres in 2013. Dawid Krzyzan of Poland is the only other 20m thrower in the line-up.
Pezer and Mihaljevic may well feature in the discus too where Hungary's Róbert Szikszai and Aleksey Khudyakov of Russia are the two main contenders. Both have broken their national junior records this year, and Szikszai has thrown beyond 60m in eight competitions. Britain's Nicholas Percy and Valery Halubkovich of Belarus are also potential medallists.
Valeriy Pronkin will be the overwhelming favourite for the hammer title, the Russian having breached 80 metres twice this year while no one else is within two metres. –zkan Baltaci of Türkiye is the best of the rest, although more than two metres short. He should fight with Serhiy Reheda of Ukraine for the runner-up spot if all goes to form.
The javelin certainly went to form two years ago when Latvia's world junior record holder Zigismunds Sirmais took the title. The result is likely to be less predictable in Rieti where Germany's Julian Weber is favourite ahead of Maksym Bohdan of Ukraine and Russia's German Komarov, while Toni Kuusela hopes to continue Finland's fantastic tradition in this event.
Combined events
The decathlon should be a four-way scrap between a Russian, a German, a Swede and a Czech, with Aleksey Cherkasov the favourite to follow Kevin Mayer as European junior champion. The Russian scored 7612 in May and has improved in virtually every event this season. He will be chased hard by Germany's Tim Nowak, a World Junior finallist last year, Frederick Ekholm of Sweden, and Jiri Sykora of the Czech Republic, who have also scored more than 7500. A second Russian, Yevgeniy Likhanov, and Estonia's Kristjan Rosenberg are outside bets for a medal.
Walks
Russia will expect to dominate the men's 10,000m track walk thanks to Viktor Sokolov and 2011 World Youth champion Pavel Parshin who are some 50 seconds faster than anyone else in the field this season. Sokolov took the Russian senior title at this event this year, while Parshin won the junior event on the roads at the European Race Walk Cup in Dudince in May and claimed bronze at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games. Spain's Alvaro Martin has the fastest PB in the line-up from his fifth place at the World Juniors last year, and he plus Vito Minei will be the Russians' main threats. Minei will hope for home crowd support to spur him to glory. The Italian broke 42 minutes on the Rieti track in June to win the national under 23 title after picking up a Europa Cup bronze in Dudince.