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| Angelica Bengtsson of Sweden celebrates after winning the pole vault gold with a new championships record of 4.57m in Tallinn on Saturday. |
Three championships records crowned a magnificant day three at the 21st European Athletics Junior Championships in Tallinn today, while Jodie Williams and Gabriel Navarro completed their very different doubles.
With the cahmpionships’ big names all in action, it was always going to be a day to remember, and the field event stars Angelica Bengtsson and Zigimunds Sirmais didn’t disappoint.
Bengtsson had the crowd on their feet as she raised Yelena Isinbayeva’s championships record three times in the pole vault eventually topping out at 4.57.
“Are you going to be the next Yelena Isinbayeva,” she was asked afterwards.
“Well, I sure hope so,” she replied. “I hope to jump at least as high as she does but my goal is to break all her records.”
Bengtsson won the title when she cleared 4.30, 10cm higher than Germany’s silver medallist Lilli Schnitzerling while Natalia Demidenko of Russia took bronze.
A short while later, Sirmais had his share of the limelight. The Latvian, who stunned onlookers by eclipsing Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen’s world junior record in March, left it until the fifth round before he sealed victory with a throw of 81.53 that eclipsed Aleksandr Ivanov’s 10-year-old CR.
“I expected to win but I thought it would be a little bit easier,” said Sirmais.
It wasn’t easy for Barbara Spiler either but the Slovenian unleashed her record throw in round five of the women’s hammer final to snatch her nation’s first ever gold at these championships.
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| Slovenia's Barbara Spiler celebrates after her record throw of 67.06m during the women's hammer on Saturday. She won her nation’s first ever gold at these championships. |
Spiler had been lying third, more than two metres short of Kivilcim Kaya’s leading effort of 66.69, a personal best for the Turk, when she released the hammer to 67.06.
“I didn’t expect that result at all,” said the disbelieving Slovenian. “As you can see, I’m crying. It was such an emotional win. I’m the happiest person on earth today.”
She has some rivals for that claim in Tallinn tonight, not least the whizz-kid Williams, the British sprint star who added the 200 title to the 100 gold she won yesterday with a scintillating win in 22.94.
“I’ve now got two from two,” she said. “Maybe tomorrow I can say that I’ve reached the goal – three from three.” Williams will race in the 4x100m relay.
Thankfully for him, there’s no more gold for Navarro to chase.
The Spaniard completed a distance double tonight to match Mo Farah’s at the European senior championships last summer when he held off Britain’s Jonny Hay and Bartosz Kowalczyk of Poland in a desperate sprint finish to add the 5000m gold to the 10,000m crown he claimed on Thursday.
“Two golds! It’s unbelievable,” said Navarro, who won in 14:07.06. “I set a new PB and it feels great.”
Williams’ success crowned a good day for Britain all round as David Bolarinwa added 200 gold to the 100 bronze he picked up yesterday, Jack Meredith beat his teammate Andy Pozzi to the 110m hurdes title, and Adam Cotton won Britain’s first 1500m gold for 32 years with a tactically astute performance in the final of the metric mile.
If Britons ruled the track, it was Germans who took the honours in the field, however, as Lena Urbaniak added the European junior shot put title to the world youth crown she claimed two years ago, while discus silver medallist Anna Rüh claimed her second medal of the championships in third place.
Gesa-Felicitas Krause provided Germany with another gold as she won the 3000m steeplchase in 9:51.08 ahead of her Russian rival Gulshat Fazlitdinova.
Russia did have one winner, however, when the national junior record holder Nikita Anishchenkov lived up to expectations to win the high jump over Denmark’s Janick Klausen.
Elsewhere on the track, Anastasiya Tkachuk won the women’s 800m title with a devastating front-running performance that destroyed the field. She finished in 2:02.73 while Britain’s Rowena Cole overhauled Russia’s Ayvika Malanova to take silver.
And Amela Terzić won Serbia’s first gold of the championships when she ran away from Türkiye’s Esma Aydemir over the final lap of the women’s 3000m and claimed the title and a personal best of 9:17.61.
Finally, just an hour after the Kadriorg Stadium had observed a minute’s silence for the victims of the Oslo bombings and shootings yesterday, Finland’s Nooralotta Neziri broke Norwegian hearts with a come from behind victory over their world junior champion Isabelle Pedersen.
Pedersen later wore a black armband on the podium and received her silver medal in tears.
“I feel terrible,” she said. “I just wasn't ready for the race and this is why I lost. It is totally my fault. I hit one or two hurdles and my run went from okay to horrible in a nanosecond.
“My head just wasn't in the game at the moment of the race. I should be happy about the silver since achieving a medal is a great result but I am not. I came here for the gold and leaving with a silver just doesn't cut it for me.”
French favourite Kevin Mayer produced a 2.04 high jump and 49.41 400m to lead the decathlon at the half way with 4164 points, 98 ahead of Germany’s Matthias Brugger and 105 clear of Johannes Hock.
Russia’s Vera Rudakova again looked unbeatable in the women’s 400 hurdles, clocking 57.24 to win her semi-final by 1.5 seconds, while Germany’s Varg Königsberg was the class act of the men’s semis.
Pierre Ambroise Bosse kept his 800m hopes alive by finishing third in his semi-final behind Slovenian winner Zan Rudolf. But European number two Johan Rogestedt ran a much smarter race to take the quicker second semi in 1:48.59 and the Swede will be tough to beat in the final.
Alexander Yurchenko of Russia was best of the triple jump qualifiers with 16.28.
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