The Rieti 2026 European Athletics U18 Championships will welcome some of the world's most promising women's throws athletes, in a continent renowned for nurturing some of the Olympic and world champions of the future in the disciplines.
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
- Milaniia Kokhan younger sister of Olympic and European men's hammer bronze medallist Mykhaylo Kokhan competing in the women's hammer, but Czechia’s Alena Matouskova will start favourite for gold
- The Netherlands' Emma La Blansch is aiming for a medal double in the shot and discus
- Poland, Cyprus, Türkiye, Germany and Iceland also harbour medal hopes
Five to watch:
- Milaniia Kokhan (UKR) - hammer
- Kinga Jackowska (POL) - shot put
- Emma Le Blansch (NED) - shot put and discus
- Marina Hadjicosta (CYP) - discus
- Simanur Bilgili (TUR) - javelin
Women’s hammer qualifying is the first event of the championships, with Czechia’s Alena Matouskova leading the line up with a PB of 69.88m.
But there is a further five athletes that have thrown beyond the 65m mark this year, including two Finnish athletes Venla Siekkinen and Hanna Siirila.
Ukraine’s Milaniia Kokhan, who has thrown 66.02m this year, for second in the standings, will also hope to follow in her brother, Mykhaylo Kokhan’s, footsteps in taking gold at these championships. He triumphed in Győr 2018.
In the shot put Poland’s Kinga Jackowska leads the rankings with a season’s best of 17.90m, but she also boasts a PB of 18.67m from May last year.
She also made the final at the Tampere 2025 European Athletics U20 Championships, but was unable to replicate her usual form and had to settle for 11th place.
The Netherlands’ Emma Le Blansch is next in the standings with 17.38m, followed by Hungary’s Zsofi Marton, Great Britain’s Emilia Adese, and Germany’s Pauline Schubert, who have all thrown over 17m this year.
Then in the discus, Cyprus’ Marina Hadjicosta holds the European U18 lead with a PB of 56.54m from May, with a further seven competitions over 50m this year.
Germany’s historic discus strength continues with Emmy Pfouga who has thrown a PB of 51.82m this year for second in the standings, while the Netherlands’ Le Blansch, who is also competing in shot put, sits close behind in third with 51.65m.
Though there are two more athletes over 50 metres this year and a further four athletes over 49m to build a stacked field with a total of 43 athletes in the event.
The javelin will be the last of the women’s throws to crown its champion, and unlike the men’s event, there is no clear stand out athlete as just 3.5m separate the top seven competitors.
It’s Türkiye’s Simanur Bilgili who leads the field with a PB of 57.48m, which she threw on 4 July after also opening her season in February with 56.09m although Iceland’s Bryndis Embla Einarsdottir has also thrown over 57 metres this year with a PB of 57.02m set in June.