Three athletes who led the world U18 list in their respective events will highlight the women's jumps and heptathlon at the Rieti 2026 European Athletics U18 Championships which begin on Thursday morning.
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
- The French pair of Isild Drouet and Julie Bourgis look set to battle it out for the pole vault title
- Alisa Launonen is looking to become the second successive Finnish winner of the heptathlon
- World U18 leader Viktoria Angelova is the favourite in the women’s triple jump
Five to watch
- Isild Drouet (FRA) - pole vault
- Julie Bourgis (FRA) - pole vault
- Alisa Launonen (FIN) - heptathlon/100m hurdles
- Viktoria Angelova (BUL) - triple jump
- Karina Nizynska (POL) - high jump
If Isild Drouet and Julie Bourgis produce something close to their best form in the pole vault, it will take something truly remarkable from one of the 24 other entrants to dislodge the French duo who lead the 2026 European U18 list by a significant margin.
Drouet and Bourgis have cleared 4.45m and 4.30m respectively this year, putting them some 25 centimetres ahead of the third best vaulter on the entry-list: Germany’s Eva Marie Weisbrodt who cleared 4.05m during the indoor season.
Still only 16, Drouet has improved from 4.06m to a French U18 record of 4.45m this year, putting her equal fourth on the European U18 all-time list alongside 2022 European champion Wilma Heltela from Finland.
The championship record of 4.26m is within the grasp of both French pole vaulters and should the conditions and the circumstances allow, Drouet might even have an eye on the world U18 best of 4.52m which was set by Estonia’s Allika Inkeri Moser at last year’s European Youth Olympic Festival in Skopje.
Alisa Launonen: the next fantastic Finn?
The likes of Saga Vanninen and Enni Virjonen have won European age-group titles in recent years in the heptathlon and the growing Finnish tradition in the event looks set to be continued in Rieti by Alisa Launonen who will be looking to emulate Virjonen who won in 2024.
Launonen is the only heptathlete to have broken the 6000 points-barrier, eclipsing that mark earlier this summer with a world U18 leading total of 6011 points in Tampere.
And for her rivals, it could be a case of catch Launonen if you can. The 100m hurdles and high jump are two of her strongest events and the 16-year-old has also entered the individual 100m hurdles which begins in Rieti on Saturday morning, one day after the heptathlon concludes.
Launonen’s lifetime best of 13.24 makes her the fifth fastest on the entry-list, giving the Finn a plausible opportunity of leaving Rieti with a brace of medals if she chooses to contest both events.
Launonen would have also been a medal contender in the individual high jump had the schedule allowed her to combine the event with her heptathlon exploits.
Launonen’s lifetime best of 1.81m has only been bettered or matched by two of the 19 entrants: Poland’s Karina Nizynska and Germany’s Lea Volcker who have cleared 1.85m and 1.81m respectively in 2026.
The pair will be looking to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Serbia's Angelina Topic, both of whom are past winners of the European U18 high jump title.
Bulgaria’s Viktoria Angelova only took up the triple jump this season but the 17-year-old leads the world and European U18 list with 13.53m which she set at the Balkan Championships in just her third registered competition at her newfound event.
Angelova is one of just four athletes on the entry-list to have broken the 13 metre-barrier. She is joined in this exclusive group by Türkiye’s Eylul Donmez (13.40m) and the Spanish duo of Gift Okunrobo (13.25m) and Rebeca Torres (13.03m).
The entry-list for the long jump is led by Czechia's Kristyna Zahorova with 6.39m, a mark which matches the championship record set by Sweden's Ayla Hallberg Hossain in 2022.
Photo courtesy of capturemysport / FFA
