The Rieti 2026 European Athletics U18 Championships are set to welcome the continent's finest talents in the men's endurance races – events in which Europe has produced multiple global stars.
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
- France’s Meziane Benhammou is the favourite to take the first gold of the championships
- Spain and Great Britain boast strong medal hopes across several events
- Swiss athletes Nino Eugster and Jonas Beutler seem set to clash for 2000m steeplechase gold
Five to watch
- Meziane Benhammou (FRA) - 3000m
- Charlie Chambers (GBR) – 800m
- Freddie Rowe (GBR) – 1500m
- Gabriel Gonzalez (ESP) – 5000m race walk
- Nino Eugster (SUI) – 2000m steeplechase
On the first day of the championships amongst the many qualifying rounds, there will be just one final, where the men’s 3000m champion being crowned.
France’s Meziane Benhammou is the favourite to win as he has run more than five seconds quicker than his next competitor, with a PB of 8:05.06.
It is Belgium’s Roel Damman who is next fastest with a best of 8:10.66, closely followed by Great Britain’s Joseph Scanes with 8:10.74.
Great Britain’s medal hopefuls don’t end there though, with Charlie Chambers leading the standings in the 800m, with a PB a second faster than the next athlete, while Freddie Rowe tops the 1500m start list three seconds ahead of the next best.
Their country's long-term success in the endurance events across all ages seems that it may continue in Rieti as Chambers and Rowe will also be joined by more Brits in both events as they all hope to challenge for the podium.
Although, France’s Axel Mougel-Depoutot and Spain’s Sergio Redondo will be looking to assert themselves at the top in the 800m after also both running sub 1:50 this year.
While in the 1500m it is Spain’s Alex Sangil and Italy’s Federico Giardiello who complete the top three heading into the championships.
Then in the 2000m steeplechase, it’s Swiss duo Nino Eugster and Jonas Beutler who top the standings with PB’s oft 5:41.40 and 5:42.15 respectively.
They will be keen to take the top two spots on the day, and while Eugster has the faster PB, he has not yet beaten Beutler in their five meetings since June last year.
Though Spain’s Pablo Vazquez and Czechia’s Jakub Pietrula will have a keen eye on upsetting the Swiss athletes and plotting their own route to the top of the podium.
It will be Spain however with the biggest hope for a double podium in the 5000m race walk, as Gabriel Gonzalez tops the standings while Marcos López sits in third.
Gonzalez has set himself as the clear favourite after clocking a PB of 19.57.58 in June, putting nearly 27 seconds between him and the next best athlete at the championships - Croatia’s Patrik Pivarski.
Meziane Benhammou image courtesy @Gwendal Hamon/capturemysport/FFA
Freddie Row image by James Rhodes