Twins Michal Rada and Nina Radova made history with a unique 400m hurdles double, as Czechia celebrated three gold medals on the final night of action from the European Athletics U18 Championships in Banska Bystrica on Sunday (21).
Nina Radova ran a brilliantly paced race in the women’s 400m hurdles. Running from lane five, she ran with intent from the gun. By the home straight, Croatia’s Eva Barbarić running strongly in lane three was her only threat for gold.
But Radova pulled clear over the penultimate barrier, running to a championship best of 58.00. Barbaric won bronze in a personal best 58.85. France’s Lalie Pouzancre-Hoyer came through for bronze in a personal best 59.07.
Immediately after seeing his sister win gold, all eyes turned to Michal Rada in the men’s race. Running from lane six, he ran down the stagger on Italy’s Tommaso Ardizzone and Serbia’s Nebojša Ilić within the first two hurdles.
And as they turned into the home straight, he had built a ten metre lead on the field, setting a brutal pace that none of his competitors could live with. He clocked a superb European U18 best of 49.42 in a dominant performance.
His Czechia teammate Marek Váňa added even more glitter to a brilliant night for the neighbouring nation, taking silver in a personal best 51.12. Ardizzone rallied to take bronze in a national U18 best of 51.38.
"Two times happier"
“I am extremely happy that me and my brother got gold medals,” said the women’s winner. “I felt very good during my run, I expected slightly better time but I am satisfied. Before the race I was thinking about being first with a gold medal.
“My brother deserved this and of course I am his biggest fan. We have also a younger sister and we support her too. We are twins, so we have a doubled stress but right now we are two times happier.”
Her brother Michal said: “I am glad that after two qualification rounds, I won the final as well. Before my race I was thinking about my sister. When I figured out that she won I was not stressed anymore and I focused just on myself.
“Me and my sister we go to the same school, we train together, we do everything together. You cannot imagine how we appreciate what we achieved.”
Holubova wins dramatic 800m
Earlier in the evening, there was a dramatic women’s 800m. Top ranked Shaikiri King went to the front from the break of lanes and stayed ahead right through to 600 metres. But Czechia’s Adéla Holubová forced her way past the British athlete entering the final turn. As she did, King became entangled in the chasing bunch and slipped back to fifth.
From that point on Holubová stayed glued to the inside and ran hard to the finish. King had to sweep wide to launch her counterattack and began to claw her way back to the lead. But she got into another tangle with Sweden’s Carmen Cernjul and lost momentum again.
Holubová, in contrast, got her race execution just right and held on to take gold in a championship best 2:04.23. King finished just 0.06 behind for silver and Cernjul won bronze with 2:04.52.
“I feel great, I am very happy. I did not expect to win,” said Holubová. “I hoped for a medal but not the gold one. My plan before the championships was to finish on the podium, gold is the cherry on the cake.”
In the men’s 800m, there was a cagey first half as the field jogged through the opening lap in 59 seconds led by Great Britain’s Matthew McKenna. The race burst into life with 300m to go with McKenna, teammate Tom Waterworth and Slovenia’s Benjamin Lakošeljac surging clear.
It looked to be between the two British athletes as they swept into the home straight. But as Waterworth starting to fade, McKenna moved away inexorably towards gold.
Led by the fast finishing Spaniard Aaron Ceballos, the pack closed on the ever tiring Waterworth and Lakošeljac. McKenna won in 1:52.91 from Ceballos in 1:53.21 with Poland’s Łukasz Zaczyk dipping for bronze just 0.03 ahead of Lakošeljac in 1:53.60. Waterworth was fifth in 1:53:68.
“I have been waiting for this moment for so long,” said McKenna. “Tough race but with perfect end, I gave everything. It was messy but I always race my own race. I want to keep running races, I want to keep running fast times.
“This time last year I had no idea that I can achieve this. I have my eyes on LA Olympics 2028, it is a dream. I need to keep winning these competitions. With little baby steps we will see in four years where I will be.”
From football to steeplechase gold for Spaniard
The men’s 2000m steeplechase was won by Bakr El Asri in 5:46.79. The Spaniard, the fastest on paper, pushed the pace on from a slow first lap with the support of teammate Marti Torregrossa. With 500 metres to go, Czechia’s Adam Červinka made a bold run for home.
But El Asri was wise to it. He covered the move and re-took the lead as they cleared the back straight barrier for the final time. He pushed on further from the water jump and left Cervinka, Torregrossa, Germany’s Jakob Rodel, Turkiye’s Musab Kundakçi and the rest to fight out silver and bronze.
Rodel and Cervinka emerged as the medal contenders and had a huge battle down the home straight. The Czech threw himself over the line to get the edge by 0.06 in 5:47.71. Both athletes were also rewarded with personal bests. But gold belonged to El Asri.
“I am so happy. Three years ago, I played only football and today I won a gold medal in steeplechase,” he said. “It is incredible, I have no words. My tactic was to stand in the back. For final two rounds I changed the rhythm and I tried to win.
“I played football in the first division of Catalonia. I was good but was not good enough to become a professional footballer. I had some injuries, so I started cross country running.”
Coppola wins second Italian walks title
Alessio Coppola made it an Italian double in the 5000m race walks, following the success of Serena Di Fabio in the women’s race on Friday (21). Coppola led the race virtually from start to finish with Ireland’s Séamus Clarke briefly nosing ahead around midway.
With four laps to go, Coppola’s unrelenting stride had whittled the leaders to three athletes, with his Italian teammate Nicolo Vidal joining him and Clarke at the front. Vidal dropped off with two laps to go as Clarke held on stubbornly. But by the final lap, he too, had to give second best to Coppola, who strode away to win gold in 21:01.44.
Clarke could celebrate a new national U18 best of 21:05.70 alongside a silver medal. Vidal could also savour a personal best of 21:11.87 as well as a bronze medal.
Memorable medley relays close championships
The championships came to a thrilling conclusion with the medley relays. First up was the women’s race that matched up individual 400m champion Anastazja Kuś and individual 200m winner Elisa Valensin on the one lap final leg. Switzerland were also in the mix entering the final leg.
Then individual 400m silver medallist Kara Dacosta dragged Great Britain back into contention on the back straight. But as they rounded the final turn, it was all about Kus and Valensin. Despite the Pole’s pressure, Valensin held firm and ran to her second gold and Italy’s seventh in a European U18 best of 2:05.23.
Poland won silver in a national U18 record of 2:05.54 and Great Britain won bronze in 2:05.90, also a national U18 record.
In the men’s medley relay, Great Britain led going into the final leg after a barnstorming 300m leg by Jake Odey-Jordan had catapulted them into the lead. Leader Harry Bradley had Italy’s Daniele Salemi and Germany’s Milan Stadler at close quarters.
But, Poland, with Stanisław Strzelecki on the final leg and buoyant after his success in the individual 400m, were on a roll. Strzelecki hunted them down and moved clear in the finishing straight to win gold in a championship best of 1:51.62.
Stadler battled on to win silver for Germany in a national U18 record of 1:51.82, as Salemi guided Italy to bronze in 1:52.02, also a national U18 record. Great Britain had to be content with fourth and also had the consolation of a national U18 record of 1:52.38.
Like their senior counterparts at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships, Italy topped the medal table with 15 medals including seven gold. Poland were second with eight medals, including four gold. And after an incredible final day, Czechia were third with seven medals of which four were gold.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics