Czech hurdler Michal Rada (© Jurij Kodrun/Getty Images for European Athletics)
The track in Tampere, Finland, is packed with talent for the European Athletics U20 Championships from 7-10 August. World U18 and U20 record-holders in the women’s 100m, 5000m and short track 400m and the men’s 400m hurdles go face to face with their rivals, while world U20 champions take the next step towards defending their titles at the World Athletics U20 Championships Oregon 26 in the women’s heptathlon, 400m hurdles and men’s shot put.
Sprinters push boundaries with eyes on first titles
Kelly Doualla is just 15 years old, but the Italian sprinter already holds the European U18 best over 100m, at 11.21 set in July. Lenny Chanteur's 10.22 personal best is the fastest by a European U20 man this year. The French athlete won both his heat and semifinal at the French U20 Championships in July before finishing second in the final, where he ran 10.42. In Finland, both will look to claim their first European U20 outdoor crowns.
Germany's Johanna Martin holds the European U20 short track 400m record and ran a then-personal best of 52.49 at the World U20 Championships in Lima, Peru, last August. Martin, 19, doesn’t yet have a European outdoor title to her name, but she lowered her personal best to 51.55 at the European Team Championships in June.
World and two-time French U20 champion Méta Tumba headlines the women’s 400m hurdles field. Her 55.59 from Lima 2024, where she won all three of her hurdles rounds, still stands as the national U20 record in the event.
The men’s 400m hurdles pool, meanwhile, features the owner of the European U18 best in the event. At Lima 2024, Czech U20 record-holder (49.08) Michal Rada’s first-round time – 49.36 – was then the world U20 lead, and the national U20 record, which he went on to lower to 49.30 in the final, where he won silver behind the United States’ Vance Nilsson.
Moe Berg, FitzGerald and Van Daalen on double medal watch
Håkon Moe Berg follows in the footsteps of his fellow Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen as he takes on the 1500m/3000m double in Finland. Moe Berg, the national champion in the 1500m, has not run a 3000m race yet in 2025 but holds a personal best of 7:55.82 from August 2024.
Also looking to double up on medals is Innes FitzGerald, who holds the European U20 5000m record. FitzGerald is entered in both the 3000m and 5000m in Tampere, where she will look to claim a first European U20 crown on the track after two European cross country titles. She ran personal best times at two Diamond League events in 2025 – 14:39.56 in the 5000m in London and 8:32.90 in the 3000m in Stockholm.
Another double could come in the field events, from world U20 shot put champion Jarno Van Daalen. The Dutch 19-year-old threw a then-personal best 20.76m (6kg) to win the U20 world title in Lima, then threw over 21 metres with a 6kg shot earlier this year. His double could come in the discus, where he holds a personal best of 66.31m with a 1.750kg discus. Both marks rank first among European U20 athletes in 2025.
Former U18 winners look to take next steps
Vita Barbić, like Doualla, knows what it’s like to shine early. Now 17 years old, Barbić won the European U18 javelin title in 2024 and finished third in the discus before landing just off the podium in fourth place at the World U20 Championships the same year. A two-time national U20 champion, Barbić could add a European title to her resume this year.
Remi Mourie is the sole long jumper in the field to have soared beyond eight metres. The 17-year-old’s 8.05m jump from June is the French U18 record. He sits third worldwide and first in Europe among U20 athletes this year, and he has already added 33cm to his European U18 Championship-winning distance from last summer.
Croatia's Jana Koščak checks in as the world U20 heptathlon champion after she posted 5807 points in Lima to win. Her personal best of 6293 points from 2023 still stands as the world U18 best and the Croatian national record. She finished 14th at last year’s European Championships and rose to a season’s best of 6190 points in July.
