The men’s 800m heats exploded into life from the first race at the European Athletics U23 Championships in Bergen on Friday (17) morning.
Bergen 2025 is being live streamed on the European Athletics website courtesy of Eurovision Sport.
With only two athletes qualifying automatically for Sunday’s final, the three heats always promised to be fast and competitive but surely nobody would have expected the top six finishers in the first heat would all break the previous championship record of 1:45.21 set by 2000 Olympic champion Nils Schumann from Germany in 1999?
Another record which was consigned to history was the stadium record of 1:44.33 set by European record-holder Wilson Kipketer from Denmark in 1996.
Epic scramble for finals places
With a bold and confident piece of front running, Italy’s Francesco Pernici - who reached 400m in 50.80 - took the heat win in a sizzling 1:44.06 ahead of Great Britain’s Henry Jonas in 1:44.10 who fended off Dutch prodigy Niels Laros in a grim tussle in the last 50 metres for the second qualifying spot in 1:44.19, lifetime bests for all three athletes.
However, Laros made it through to the final as a non-automatic qualifier along with France’s Thomas Marques de Andrade who also set a lifetime best of 1:44.50. However, there was no place in the final for Spain’s Ronaldo Olivo despite running 1:44.86 to finish fifth.
“The race was very, very crazy. I knew that I had this time in me. I think that now I also can run a 1:43. I dream of the gold medal, two years ago at the U23 Championships in Espoo I came fourth. And now I am back,” said Pernici, who recently finished second at the European Athletics Team Championships.
The fast times continued into the second heat with Great Britain’s Justin Davies leading all the way to take the heat victory in 1:44.67 ahead of Switzerland’s Ramon Wipfli in 1:44.92, his first sub-1:45 clocking, and both under the previous championship record.
The last heat was won by Germany’s Alexander Stepanov, who led the 2025 European U23 list ahead of the championships with 1:44.17, with a comparatively benign 1:46.60 ahead of Italy’s Giovanni Lazzaro in 1:46.72.
Serene steeplechase qualification for Mononen
Temperatures in the Fana Stadium almost reached 30C on the second morning session but Finland’s Ilona Mononen, a recent winner at the European Athletics Team Championships in Madrid, barely broke sweat in winning her 3000m steeplechase heat in 9:57.69.
Mononen is yet another young and talented athlete who could embark on a double at the championships as she has also entered the 5000m on the final day of the programme.
Back on track after qualifying for the 800m semifinals yesterday, Türkiye’s Dilek Kocak was among the heat winners in the 1500m this morning. She won her heat in 4:11.91.
The other heat winners were Great Britain’s Ava Lloyd, a training partner of Keely Hodgkinson, and European U23 leader Adele Gay. They won their heats in 4:14.55 and 4:12.03 respectively.