Armin Szabados was crowned European U20 hammer champion on the second day of the European Athletics U20 Championships in Tampere on Friday (8) afternoon.
Tampere 2025 is being live streamed on the European Athletics website courtesy of Eurovision Sport.
The competition was effectively over in the first round as Szabados launched the 6kg implement far beyond the 80 metre-line - a feat which none of his rivals at this championships have achieved - with 82.91m on his first attempt.
All four of Szabados’ valid throws would have won the gold medal with ease. He also broke the 80 metre-barrier in the third and sixth rounds with 82.05m and 80.16m respectively and even his fourth valid throw landed only a fraction the wrong side of the 80 metre-line at 79.99m.
Finnish battle for silver and bronze
With Szabados operating in a different stratosphere, Finns Mico Lampinen and Aatu Kangasniemi had a domestic battle for the silver and bronze medals.
Kangasniemi, who won silver in the shot put just a few hours prior, opened with his series with 74.41m although Lampinen - whose brother Max won this very title in Jerusalem two years ago - leapfrogged his compatriot in the fourth round with a lifetime best of 74.67m.
But even though he was expecting more, Szabados was very much the star of the show. His winning throw of 82.91m was the third longest throw in the history of the European Athletics U20 Championships and he won the title by a massive winning margin of 8.24 metres.
“This is a very important victory for me especially because of the fact that I had a slight injury a month ago. I had some pain in my ankle, so it was not easy. I want to say a big thank you to my family and my coaches.
"This performance was not super special to me because I was ready to show throws on the level of 85m, like I was attacking it in my trainings. So it is not too big for me,” said Szabados who will now to his attention to the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
"I will compete in Tokyo because I am 25th place in the ranking at the moment. I hope I will show some good throws at the level of 77-78m with the 7kg hammer there."
