Jarno Van Daalen spoiled the Finnish party on the second morning session of the European Athletics U20 Championships in Tampere with a massive fourth round throw for gold in the shot put on Friday (8) morning.
Van Daalen is the European U20 leader and reigning world U20 champion but the outstanding pre-competition favourite - who is aiming for gold medals in both the shot put and discus - got off to a shaky start, beginning his campaign with two no-throws to put his dual title winning aspirations under significant jeopardy.
By contrast, Finnish favourite Aatu Kangasniemi rose to the occasion inside the Ratina Stadium, improving his lifetime best to 20.61m and then to 20.82m with his first two throws. At one point, Kangasniemi led the final by a whopping 1.8 metres.
But after a conservative throw of 18.84m to make the cut, Van Daalen grew in confidence and unleashed a mighty effort of 21.07m on his fourth attempt to slingshot himself into the lead.
Kangasniemi was by far the most consistent thrower in the final, breaking the 20 metre-line with five of his six attempts but the 19-year-old, whose every throw was greeted by rhythmic clapping from an engaged and knowledgeable crowd, was unable to conjure up a third lifetime best in the final to take back the lead.
Poland’s European U18 discus champion Jakub Rodziak set a lifetime best of 19.37m to win bronze and will be looking to add to his medal collection in the discus final tomorrow - as will Van Daalen. At the pre-event press conference, Van Daalen said his ambition is to emulate his older sister Alida who won both titles at the European Athletics U23 Championships two years ago in Espoo.
Kangasniemi will also have ambitions of adding to his medal haul but in just a few hours’ time as he also lines up in the hammer final.
"This was a great competition. I have done these throws hundred thousands of times, so I knew I was capable of doing this properly. But my mum [who also coaches Van Daalen] really stressed. But it helped me a lot that she stayed calm when talking to me. The 21m throw was a pure relief. You could see it in my face and my reaction. I am also thankful for this fans here," said Van Daalen.
Record watch on in the decathlon
Dutchman Luuk Pelkmans has recaptured the overall lead ahead of overnight leader Hubert Troscianka from Poland in a captivating decathlon in which Niklas Kaul’s world U20 record of 8435 points set at the 2017 European Athletics U20 Championships in Grosseto could be under threat.
With three events remaining, Pelkmans has taken his tally up to 6056 points ahead of Troscianka, who shattered the world U20 decathlon 400m best last night with 46.21, with 6039 points.
Battling a 2.0 m/s headwind, Pelkmans was the fastest in the 110m hurdles in 14.07 ahead of Estonia’s European U18 champion Tristan Konso in 14.16 with world U20 silver medallist Troscianka performing up to par in third in 14.34.
But while Pelkmans achieved a lifetime best of 46.48m in the discus, Troscianka lost some points on Pelkmans and squandered the overall lead with a best of 43.36m - some way down on his lifetime best of 51.48m with the 1.75kg implement.
Only 16 points separate the two leading protagonists with just three events remaining. However, Troscianka has the capabilities of taking a big lead into the concluding 1500m if he can approach his lifetime best of 68.53m - his Dutch counterpart has a lifetime best of 57.0m - in the javelin.
Switzerland’s Leon Krummenacher sits a distant third overall with three events remaining on 5610 points but with a pack of challengers on his heels, including Sweden’s Liam Belo da Silva (5596 points) in fourth and the German triumvirate of Leon-Joel Clair (5557 points), Moritz Bartko (5509 points) and Paul Gunther (5540 points.)
