Živa Remic looked a class apart as she set a new championship record in the semifinals of the women’s 800m at the Rieti 2026 European Athletics U18 Championships on Saturday (18).
The brilliant Slovenian prospect was serene yet superb as she coasted through the first semifinal in 2:04.19, shaving 0.04 seconds off Czech Adéla Holubová’s previous championship record, set in Banská Bystrica two years ago.
"Today, the plan was just to run my race in the pace we feel comfortable to me. And it was great. I was not hoping for a championships record, but then it is even better," she said.
Yet she still appeared to have plenty in reserve for Sunday’s final.
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Gratefully following in her wake were Great Britain's Jorjia March (2:05.83), Croatia’s Ana Poljak (2:06.08) and Austria’s Magda Karall (2:06.11), all of whom set new personal bests to qualify for the final. Karall’s time also set an Austrian U18 best.
France’s Léa Eid won the second semifinal in 2:06.52.
Heggarty disqualified in men's 200m
There was controversy in the men's 200m semi finals where hot favourite Ethan Heggarty, who set a championship record of 20.77 a day earlier was disqualified for a lane infringement in the men's 200m semifinals.
He originally ran to victory in another new best of 20.72, before the officials intervened. The ruling is being protested at the time of writing ahead of Saturday evening's final.
Another British sprinter Shayia Kenion led the qualifiers for Saturday (18) evening's women's 200m final with 23.50 (0.8m/s) in winning the third semi final.
