The Rieti 2026 European Athletics U18 Championships finally kick starts on Thursday (16) after being delayed from 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and several of the top stars are not only eyeing up medals, but records too.
All eight sessions will be broadcast from Rieti 2026 on the European Athletics website (integrated feed) with English commentary and via the Eurovision Sport platform with addition French commentary where there will also be feeds dedicated to showing full field events.
On the eve of the championships, Slovenia’s Ziva Remic, Great Britain's Tito Odunaike, and Italian trio Alessia Succo, Kelly Doualla, and Anthony del Pioluogo spoke about their goals for the championships and beyond.
Remic focused on being the best
Remic seems set to continue the line of talented European women 800m runners, after clocking 1:59.64 in June to go second on the European all-time U18 list.
That PB puts her in stead to target the championship record of 2:04.23 as well as the gold medal after taking silver at the Tampere 2025 European Athletics Championships at just 15-years-old.
“I think the most important thing to become a champion is that you enjoy the sport,” Remic said. “Of course, I give it my all at every training session.
“I give it my all to do the best, I focus on regular meditation, nutrition, physio and so on. All I can do to be like the best I can be. But yes, I think it's important to enjoy the sport and the support means a lot.”
“I could definitely break the record”
Another athlete with strong potential to break the championship record is GB’s Odunaike, who has jumped over 16 metres twice this year already, while the record stands at 16.03m to France's Martin Lamou from the first edition in 2016.
Having taken the British indoor title in February with 15.75m at just 16-years-old, he is confident that he could write his name in history in Rieti.
“I'm obviously excited to be here,” he said. “You know, it's been in my sights for quite a few months now. I'd say I'm not putting too much pressure on myself to do well, because if I do, I might overthink things, but I think I'm just going to see how things go.
"I could definitely break the record, because I went over 16m for the first time in February indoors, and then again in Mannheim [with a world U18 lead of 16.13m] and that was only my second outdoor competition of the season.
“So I definitely know with my coaching and my training, I'm not at my peak yet and I think I could see a personal best at these championships. Hopefully I go above the championship record, I really would like to break that.”
However the Italian team already boasts two record breakers in Doualla and Succo, with the former holding the European U18 100m best and the latter holding the world U18 best over 60m hurdles as well as a share of the European U18 best in the 100m hurdles.
But for both athletes, competing at home with an Italian crowd behind them provides a comforting feeling, despite the pressure that may come with it.
“I’m not really nervous because I know I’m competing at home,” Succo said. “I know that most of the spectators are cheering for me and I hope to make them - and in particular myself – happy.
“They will boost me even further as I’m Italian, so I hope to just have fun.”
Both athletes, despite their age, have also started their transition to the senior stage, with Succo having made her Diamond League debut in Rome earlier this year while Doualla made the semifinals of the 60m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in March.
“It’s been a very unique feeling because I got to compete against athletes I’ve only seen on TV,” Succo added.
“It was incredible to compete in that stadium [the Stadio Olimpico] and it was very unexpected because I didn’t think I could compete at such event. But I was very calm and the experienced Italian athletes helped me staying calm.”
Doualla has also found support from the many experienced Italians as her talent continues to shine on both the senior and junior stages.
“It was nice to make my debut in the senior national team, everybody was so friendly,” Doualla said. “I really felt like part of the family, so I didn't find that it was a big difference from the junior teams.
“I even had the chance to stay very close to the current world champion [Zaynab Dosso], I learnt a lot from the world indoors, from her, and from everybody else.
“So now, it's really an honour to be here to represent the national team, in my country. I really hope that there will be a lot of people celebrating, cheering, and I really hope that people can have fun and we can also have fun.”
Italy’s medal hopes exist way beyond the track, with shot put star del Pioluogo looking to take the gold and potentially the U18 Italian record of 20.94m, which he is just 22cm behind currently.
Though for him, taking the gold in Rieti would have higher meaning due to the rarity of the opportunity.
“The important thing is for me to have no pressure, to just go out there and stay calm and stay focused,” he said. “We have worked a lot, and so I really hope I have fun and I can achieve an important goal.
“But if I was forced to choose between gold and the Italian age-group record, I would choose the gold medal, because European Championships are really one-of-a-kind. Now is the only chance to achieve this, here at the European U18 Championships.”