The athletics programme at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Skopje, North Macedonia was highlighted by a brilliant world U18 best in the pole vault from Estonia’s Allika Inkeri Moser with a 4.52m clearance.
Another record-breaking performance came in the 100m from 15-year-old Kelly Doualla from Italy who won the final in a European U18 best of 11.21, one of eight gold medals which helped Italy to the top of the medal table in Skopje. Doualla was also part of Italy's team who won gold in the 1000m medley relay in another European U18 best of 2:04.57.
And many of the medallists in Skopje will be looking to add to their medal collections at the upcoming European Athletics U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland from 7-10 August.
Record-breaking clearance for Moser
The standout individual result came in the very first final of the programme with 17-year-old Allika Inkeri Moser clearing 4.52m to win gold by a whopping 47 centimetres and improve the previous world U18 best by one centimetre.
Moser entered the competition at 4.05m - all but two of her competitors had exited at this point - with a second-time clearance. The Estonian cleared 4.15m on her second attempt to clinch the title before sailing over the next three heights - 4.30m, 4.42m and then a world U18 best of 4.52m - all with first-time clearances.
This vault marked an improvement of 11 centimetres on her previous lifetime best. And with Tampere 2025 just over a week away, Moser leads the European U20 list against athletes up to two years her senior.
"I'm very happy I was able to jump today exactly as I had imagined in training. I knew that I would start jumping later than the others. I believed that 4.52m was possible.
“Technically, the jump went well and the feeling was solid - the fact that it became a world record makes this day especially special," said Moser who is coached by 2000 Olympic decathlon champion Eki Nool.
Eight gold medals for table-topping Italy
After topping the medal table at last year’s European Athletics U18 Championships in Banska Bystrica, Italy dominated the athletics programme at the European Youth Olympic Festival, coming away with eight gold medals.
The Italians were particularly excellent in the women’s sprints. Still only 15, Kelly Doualla was the standout individual performer, winning 100m gold in a European U18 best of 11.21, shaving 0.03 off the previous mark jointly held by Great Britain’s Jodie Williams and Switzerland’s Xenia Buri.
Margherita Castellani, who won silver behind teammate Elisa Valensin at last year’s European Athletics U18 Championships, went one better with victory in the 200m in 23.23 and Alessia Succo won the 100m hurdles title in a lifetime best and Italian U18 record of 13.04 to move to third on the European U18 all-time list behind Slovakia's Laura Frlickova (12.86) and France's Cyrena Samba-Mayela (12.98).
Doualla and Castellani were to add to their medal haul in the medley relay (100m-200m-300m-400m), winning in another European U18 best of 2:04.57 by over one second from Switzerland (2:05.93) and Poland (2:06.30).
In the men's 400m hurdles (84.0cm), 17-year-old Diego Mancini won the title in 50.01 to move to second on the European all-time U18 list. He was also part of Italy's gold medal-winning team in the mixed 4x400m relay.
There was also a historic decathlon win for Matteo Sorci. He became the first ever Italian to win a continental decathlon title in any major championships across all age-groups, winning with an Italian U18 record of 7605 points.
European U18 bronze medallist Nicolo Vidal also won the 5000m race walk title in 20:22.43.
France dominates men’s jumping events
France won three of the four gold medals in the men’s jumping events. Remi Mourie, who leads the European U20 list with 8.05m, won gold in the long jump with 7.86m while his teammates Gora Ndiaye and Zackaria Dia won the triple jump and high jump titles with 15.38m and 5.20m respectively.
In the women's high jump, Aitana Alonso won gold for Spain with a 1.86m clearance to break the historic Spanish U18 record of 1.85m which was set by 2016 Olympic champion Ruth Beitia all the way back in 1996.
In the triple jump, Romania’s Daria Maria Vrinceanu defeated Latvia’s reigning European U18 champion Brenda Dziliana Apsite, setting a personal best of 13.65m to win the title ahead of the Latvian’s best effort of 13.52m.
On the track, Sweden’s European U20 5000m leader Sebastian Lörstad, 17, was one of the most dominant winners of the European Youth Olympic Festival, winning the 3000m by over 20 seconds in 8:03.47.
There was also an eye-catching result in the 800m final with Andor Schumann, the son of 2000 Olympic champion Nils, taking the title in 1:48.82 by a clear margin from Italy’s Umed Caraccio in 1:49.59.