Just weeks after dazzling at the Bergen 2025 European Athletics U23 Championships on 17-20 July, a new wave of continental champions are preparing to test themselves on the biggest stage of all: the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
Here are ten gold medallists from Bergen who could make headlines again.
- Niels Laros (NED)
Is Niels Laros the favourite for the 1500m title in Tokyo? Recent form suggests he is certainly in with more than a good chance of winning a medal.
The Dutchman, crowned Rising Star at the 2024 Golden Tracks, has been on a roll this summer, winning impressively over 5000m at the Madrid 2025 European Athletics Team Championships 1st Division and then landing a unique 800m/5000m double on back-to-back days in Bergen.
Laros has also claimed notable victories at the Brussels and Zurich Diamond League meetings, showing a vicious final 200m kick that makes him dangerous over both the 1500m and 5000m in Tokyo.
- Audrey Werro (SUI)
The odds on Audrey Werro winning an 800m medal in Tokyo have shortened considerably in recent weeks.
Since her U23 title in Bergen with a championship record of 1:57.42, the Swiss star has lowered her national record twice, most recently winning the Zurich Diamond League final on home soil in 1:55.91 ahead of Olympic bronze medallist Georgia Hunter-Bell. Only Hunter-Bell’s training partner Keely Hodgkinson sits ahead of Werro on the 2025 world list.
- Henriette Jaeger (NOR)
There’s seldom a dull moment with Henriette Jaeger. The Norwegian nearly pulled off an audacious 200/400m double in Bergen, lunging for the line in her sixth race in three days.
Jaeger will focus on the 400m in Tokyo, the distance in which she became the first athlete to break 50 seconds at the European U23 Championships with her 49.74 record. She has dipped under that barrier four times already this year, and another major final beckons.
- Saga Vanninen (FIN)
Can Saga Vanninen win her fourth major medal of 2025?
The composed Finn has been peerless in combined events this season, sweeping world and European indoor pentathlon titles before defending her U23 heptathlon crown in Bergen with a national record of 6562 points.
Finland has never won a heptathlon medal at the World Championships, but Vanninen looks well placed to make history in Tokyo.
- Adriana Vilagos (SRB)
Last year’s female Rising Star Adriana Vilagos is one of the leading contenders in the women’s javelin, one of the most open events in Tokyo. The Serbian has pushed her national record to 67.22m and claimed victories at the European Throwing Cup and the U23 Championships.
Can she now deliver on the global stage?
- Jonas Phijffers (NED)
Jonas Phijffers is fast emerging as one of Europe’s top one-lap runners. He claimed U23 gold in a championship record of 44.82 and followed up with the Dutch senior title in 44.71.
He will also be pivotal in the mixed 4x400m, where the Netherlands aim to add the world crown to their Olympic title. And if he can reproduce the 43.79 anchor leg he unleashed in Bergen, Phijffers will be a huge asset.
- Emily Newnham (GBR)
It seems only a matter of time before Emily Newnham cracks the 54-second barrier in the 400m hurdles. The Briton won U23 gold in a championship record of 54.08 and, with her flat speed, could also be a key relay runner for Great Britain in Tokyo.
- Owe Fischer-Breiholz (GER)
It’s not every day one of Karsten Warholm’s records falls, but Owe Fischer-Breiholz took the Norwegian’s U23 championship mark with a 48.01 run in Bergen.
With Warholm, Rai Benjamin and Alison dos Santos in the field, a medal may be ambitious for the German just yet. But making the final in Tokyo would be a huge step forward.
- Angelina Topic (SRB)
It’s easy to forget Angelina Topic only turned 20 this summer. The Serbian high jumper has already been a fixture in major championships, reaching multiple finals and winning medals at back-to-back European Championships.
She made the final at Budapest 2023 and placed seventh aged just 18, but suffered a fractured ankle in qualifying at the Paris Olympics to quash all medal hopes. Will she rise to greater heights in Tokyo?
- Erwan Konaté (FRA)
After a couple of quiet seasons, Erwan Konaté reminded everyone of his talent by leaping 8.25m for long jump gold in Bergen, defeating European indoor champion Bozhidar Saraboyukov of Bulgaria. If the charismatic Frenchman can replicate that form in Tokyo, he could be in the medal hunt.
