Reigning European U18 champion Michal Rada from Czechia cruised into the 400m hurdles semifinals on the first morning session of the European Athletics U20 Championships in Tampere on Thursday (7).
Rada’s time of 52.43 might have only been the 13th fastest of the morning but the 18-year-old - who is still eligible for U20 competitions in 2026 - sauntered to victory in his heat.
Rada is so far ahead of his rivals that it will probably require bad luck or misfortune to intervene for the Czech not to come away with the gold medal in Tampere. He has clocked 49.08 this season and he leads the 2025 European U20 list by an astonishing 1.4 seconds.
However, the fastest qualifier in the heats was the Netherlands' Quinten de Vos who ran a lifetime best of 51.46 for victory in the fifth heat ahead of Rada’s teammate Marek Vana - a distant silver medallist behind Rada at the European Athletics U18 Championships last year - in 52.18.
There is the distinct possibility of Czech medal success in the men’s 400m as well.
Ondrej Loupal and Tomas Horak were the fastest qualifiers across the seven heats of the 400m with 46.76 and 46.84 respectively ahead of Ireland’s European U18 bronze medallist Conor Kelly, another heat winner in 46.94.
Kelly, who was part of Ireland’s mixed 4x400m team at the Apeldoorn 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships, is the only athlete at the championships to have broken the 46 second-barrier with a lifetime best of 45.85.
Henrich and Kus impress in 400m heats
Great Britain’s rising one-lap prospect Charlotte Henrich was the fastest qualifier in the women’s 400m heats.
Fresh from breaking the 52 second-barrier for the first time in the London Diamond League, the 18-year-old laid down a marker over her rivals with a 53.21 clocking in blustery conditions.
“This is my last U20 and I just want to make the most of it. I did lots of races, lots of races abroad and that is what really helps me,” said Henrich who won the U18 title in 2022.
She was the fastest across the six heats by more than four-tenths ahead of European indoor U20 record-holder Johanna Martin from Germany (53.62) and France’s Victoria Kwarteng (53.78).
Other heat winners included last year’s European U18 champion and Paris 2024 Olympian Anastazja Kus from Poland who opened proceedings with a comfortable victory in the first heat in 54.28.
Fresh from victory at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Skopje where she won gold in a European U18 best of 11.21, 15-year-old Kelly Doualla was the fastest qualifier from the 100m heats in 11.56 with a marginal tailwind of 0.4 m/s.
Other heat winners included Ukraine’s Uliana Stepaniuk who clocked 11.62 into a 2.0 m/s headwind and reigning European U18 champion Radina Velichkova from Bulgaria who fought a 3.8 m/s headwind to win her heat in 11.98m.
Strong headwinds were also the theme of the men’s 100m heats. The fastest across the six heats was Great Britain’s world U20 4x100m silver medallist Teddy Wilson who ran 10.54 into a 1.7 m/s headwind.
