Great Britain’s Freddie Rowe unleashed a devastating last-lap burst to win the men’s 1500m at the Rieti 2026 European Athletics U18 Championships on Sunday (19).
The European U18 leader was the pre-race favourite, but he took nothing for granted, staying close to Ireland’s Charlie O'Neill, who led for most of the race.
Alex Sangil, Rowe’s most likely challenger, also remained close to the front throughout and, with 600 metres to go, the Spaniard injected a burst of pace.
At the bell, Rowe, O’Neill, Sangil and Türkiye’s Atakan Enes Çiçek were four abreast. By the back straight, Rowe and Sangil had reduced it to a straight battle between the two of them, with the British athlete racing clear around the final bend.
At that point, Rowe’s British teammate Alistair Street suddenly sprinted into contention and briefly looked like a threat.
But Rowe still had plenty in hand and surged again down the home straight, with Street tucking into his slipstream to secure silver. Rowe took gold in 3:55.33, finishing 1.47 seconds ahead of Street.
Sangil clung on for bronze in 3:57.70, just ahead of O’Neill (3:57.86) and a fast-finishing Loan di Sanza of France (3:57.89). Çiçek faded to 12th in 4:07.13.
Relief for Rowe
"Nothing can top the winning," said Rowe afterwards. "But I am so happy that there is going to be me and Alistair (Street) on the podium. I think I spent a lot of years sort of racing Alistair over the years and sort of we grew up together a lot of it.
"So to see him on the podium as well, it means as much as the win for me. It was very difficult today. Coming into this, even though you are the fastest on the paper with the time, I think none of that really matters.
"So to go out there, race the boys head to head, sort of leave all of it out there, it is an incredible feeling. To wear the blue bib, it is almost like a target. I think people look at the blue bib and be like, that is who I want to beat. That is the man. The fact that I executed enough to take the win, it is also a bit of relief."