The Rieti 2026 European Athletics U18 Championships are set to welcome the continent's finest talents in the men's throws - disciplines with a rich European heritage.
Rieti 2026 will be the fifth edition of the European Athletics U18 Championships and will be streamed live in its entirety on the European Athletics website on 16-19 July with daily highlights on the European Athletics YouTube channel.
In brief
- Finland has big hopes of glory with Jere Murto and Janne Verho in the men's javelin and men's hammer respectively
- The men's shot and men's discus are widen open competitions with Polish, British, Italian and German contenders.
Five to watch
- Jere Murto (FIN) - javelin
- Ned Scott (GBR) - javelin
- Janne Verho (FIN) - hammer
- Adrian Dral (POL) - shot put
- Moyo Stumpenhusen (GBR) - discus
It is 16-year-old Janne Verho that heads the entries in the men's hammer with a European U18 lead of 76.26m achieved on 4 July in Töysä. He is yet to compete outside of his native Finland in his blossoming career.
However his lead is narrow, with two other athletes in attendance having also thrown over 75m this year in Czechia’s Josef Pazdera, and Greece’s Petros Kassavitas.
Though, many more of the young athletes will contend for medals with so little distance separating much of the field.
Although the javelin does have a standout-star heading into the championships with another Finnish athlete, Jere Murto, holding a strong lead this season.
Jere Murto 80,24 (700g) U18WR #yleisurheilu #Vantaa pic.twitter.com/ysOamgvKpz
— Jussi Ihamäki (@jussiihamaki) May 16, 2026
He will celebrate his 17th birthday in Italy on 16 July, before Murto looks to convert his European lead to a first international gold in the javelin with qualifying on 18 July with the final taking place on the last day of the championships.
He will be seeking to emulate fellow Finn Topi Parviainen, who won gold at the 2022 edition with a spectacular European U18 best of 84.52m when he was just 15 years old.
This year Murto has thrown 80.24m with another 77.44m throw just last month to solidify his spot as the favourite to win the javelin.
The multi-talented Finn also has season’s bests of 56.61m in the discus and 70.77m in the hammer, so had qualified for those events too but his focus will be on winning the javelin.
But there are also two more athletes that have also thrown over 70m this year in Great Britain’s Ned Scott and Italy’s Antonio di Palma who have thrown 72.38m and 71.03m respectively.
Dral tops tight shot field
In the shot put Poland’s Adrian Dral has a very narrow lead of 20.89m but with two more athletes over 20 metres this year, the title cannot be predicted at all.
Italy’s Antony Del Pioluogo and Germany’s Clesio de Carvalho are the other athletes to have also thrown over 20m this year.
Dral has thrown over 20 metres seven times this year across the indoor and outdoor season, while the other 20m throwers have not surpassed the mark more than once or twice each.
The discus standings are led by Great Britain’s Moyo Stumpenhusen with a PB of 64.14m and another two throws over 60 metres this season, both from his last two competitions.
But Germany’s Lance Listner, PB of 62.62m, Czechia’s Jan Valenta, PB of 60.90m, Poland’s Adrian Borowicz, PB of 60.60m, and Germany’s John-Christian Schochardt, PB of 60.44m, will also be looking to be amongst the medals.
Although with another three athletes that have thrown over 59 metres, the field is really tight and could go anyone’s way.