The Germans are expected to leave Bergen with a brace of gold medals in the heavy throws and all of their principal medal contenders progressed through to their respective finals with the minimum of fuss on the first morning session of the Bergen 2025 European Athletics U23 Championships on Thursday (17).
The Bergen 2025 European Athletics U23 Championships are being live streamed on the European Athletics website courtesy of the Eurovision Sport Platform.
Sosna, Richter and Ndubuisi impress
Mika Sosna, who has broken the 70 metre-barrier in the discus this year, surpassed the automatic qualifying distance of 59.00m on his first attempt with 60.78m, the only athlete to break the 60 metre-barrier from the first pool.
But this distance was surpassed by his compatriot Steven Richter, a three-time winner of the U23 title at the European Throwing Cup, who threw 63.59m on his second attempt to lead the two groups of discus qualifying.
“I really want a medal because that would be a great end to my junior time. I have not had an international medal so far,” said Richter.
Based on qualification, a German clean sweep is a distinct possibility as Marius Karges qualified with the third longest throw with 59.96m. However, the likes of Greece's Dimitrios Pavlidis (59.74m) and Ukraine's European U18 and U20 champion Mykhailo Brudin (59.01m) will be looking to spoil the German party in the final.
And despite falling short of the automatic qualifying distance of 16.50m, reigning European U20 champion Nina Ndubuisi - who leads the entry-list by almost two metres with 18.91m - topped the two pools of qualifying with 16.46m.
“It is warmer than we thought but I like the heat. I study in Texas, so I am used to it. In the final I would like to achieve more than 18 meters and maybe go for a new PB, but what counts most is a medal of course. And I want a medal,” said Ndubuisi.
There are high hopes for Nicola Tuthill in Ireland in the women’s hammer and the 21-year-old impressed in the first qualifying round of the hammer with 71.33m, the second longest throw of her burgeoning career behind her recently set lifetime best of 71.71m.
Former world U20 champion Rachele Mori from Italy produced a timely season’s best of 68.39m to make the final automatically while Cyprus’ Valentina Savva - who has won gold medals at both European U18 and U20 level - progressed with her first throw of 68.03m.
Akinbileje makes a statement in 100m heats
Faith Akinbileje made her breakthrough with 200m gold at the 2022 European Athletics U18 Championships and the 19-year-old Brit is aiming for another gold medal in a different event and age-group in Bergen.
Akinbileje, who was previously coached by John Blackie who guided Dina Asher-Smith to 200m gold at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, was the fastest across four heats of the 100m in 11.42 by 0.01 ahead of Germany’s Jolina Ernst.
The fastest time in the men’s 100m came in the heat with the strongest headwind. Despite a significant headwind of 1.8 m/s in the Fana Stadium, Nsikak Ekpo - who was part of the Dutch team who won the 4x100m at the European Athletics Team Championships - sped to a 10.31 clocking to win heat two ahead of France’s sub-10 second competitor Jeff Erius in 10.35.
The multi-talented Spaniard Abel Jordan, who has also entered the 110m hurdles in Bergen, also enjoyed a safe passage, winning his heat in 10.43 against a 1.6 m/s headwind.
Newnham eases through 400m hurdles test
Emily Newnham, who leads the 2025 European U23 list with 54.49, sailed through her heat of the 400m hurdles in 56.14 to seal her place in tomorrow’s semifinal.
The surprise performer was Czechia’s Barbora Vankova who slashed her lifetime best from 57.43 to 56.45 to win her heat and qualify second fastest for the semifinals. She was one of three Czech athletes to progress from this morning’s heats.
Reigning European U20 champion Moa Granat was another prospective medal contender who safely qualified, finishing second behind Vankova in heat two in 56.64.
With four athletes qualifying automatically and four athletes qualifying on time, the qualifying conditions were benign for the leading contenders in the men’s 400m hurdles heats. The fastest athlete was Belgium’s Mimoun Abdoul Wahab who pushed to a lifetime best of 49.57 to win the third heat ahead of reigning champion Ismail Nezir from Türkiye in 50.16.
Other heat winners included Finland’s world U20 silver medallist Antti Sainio (49.87) and Germany’s European U23 leader Owe Fischer-Breiholz (50.01).
Croatia's reigning world U20 long jump champion Roko Farkas made his customary excellent start in the decathlon and leads the standings after three events by over 100 points with 2636 points.
He was the best performer in both the 100m (10.73) and long jump (7.78m) and was also rewarded with a lifetime best of 13.69m in the shot put. Brit Sammy Ball is second overall with 2510 points.
Steven Mills for European Athletics