Artur Noga of Poland clears the last hurdle to win the men's 110m Hurdles final (© Getty Images)
Poland's Artur Noga, Croatia's Danijela Grgic, Estonia's Kaire Leibak, The Netherlands' Melissa Boekelman and Romania's Bianca Perie all struck gold at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Athletics last summer and they are all looking to add a continental title to their collection at the European Athletics Junior Championships, which start here tomorrow (19) and finish on Sunday (22).
Noga nicely in form
Noga dashed to a men's 110m Hurdles championship record of 13.23 in Beijing 11 months ago and could improve on that time in the Dutch town, perhaps inspired by the fact that the event will take place in the Fanny Blankers-Koen stadium.
Blankers-Koen won the 1948 Olympic gold medal in the women's 80m Hurdles and set two World records in the event, feats which contributed to her being named by the IAAF just a few years ago as the "Best Women's Athlete of the 20th Century.
"I didn't have the best winter because I was injured for much of it. I've been very careful about my racing this year because everything is geared towards Hengelo but I'm starting to feel more confident after doing 13.43 at the Polish junior championships (on June 28)," said Noga, who is nevertheless the second fastest man in the world over the junior hurdles height of 99cm.
Grgic is not only the current world junior women's 400m champion but will also be defending the European junior title she won over one lap of the track in Kaunas, Lithuania two years ago.
She leads the 2007 European junior lists with 52.63, although it should be remembered that she ran a national senior record of 50.78 to win in Beijing. "Last year I surpassed what I expected to do at the world juniors, I wanted the gold medal but didn't think I would run so fast," said Grgic, who has already demonstrated her ability to rise to the occasion.
Leibak ready to leap
Like Grgic, triple jumper Leibak is the best in her event this year in Europe even if she hasn't yet topped what she achieved last summer, when she leaping a phenomenal 14.43m in Beijing for fifth place on the junior all-time list. Nevertheless, she remains the clear favourite, especially in the wake of her recent 13.90m performance into the wind at the European Cup.
Perie, who is still just 17, was unchallenged when winning the IAAF World Youth Championships women's Hammer Throw gold medal in Ostrava on Saturday (14) by more than eight metres but she is likely to have stiffer competition in Hengelo from Russia's Anna Bulgakova.
Bulgakova had to settle for the silver behind Perie in Beijing last summer but she has since improved to 68.49m this year, the best by a European junior in 2007 and the seventh best of all-time.
However, despite the fact that the above quartet are all poised to get plenty of applause from the knowledgeable crowd, who annually pack the stadium for the IAAF World Athletics Tour meeting at the same venue, there is no doubt that local heroine Melissa Boekelman will get the biggest cheers.
Home town heroine
Boekelman is justifiably the favourite for the women's Shot Put as she more than a metre ahead of her rivals this year despite having some other things on her mind.
"I had my school leaving exams a few weeks ago and they had to take precedence but now I've got them behind me and I'm looking forward to Hengelo" said Boekelman.
"This summer so far has been a difficult one because I've had to concentrate on school work. I have also changed my coach since I won the world juniors but training has been going well. In fact, I think I've been throwing better in training than I have in most competitions."
She could also notch up another medal in the Discus Throw, in which she is ranked second this year behind Britain's Eden Francis.
There will also be huge interest in the men's and women's sprints with favourites hoping to follow in the footsteps of the compatriots.
Britain has an outstanding tradition in the men's 100m having provided 10 of the last 12 champions and the next man off the production line could be Londoner Leevan Yearwood, who takes on the role man people expected would be filled by 2006 World Junior Harry Aikines-Aryeetey until he suffered a double stress fracture in his back earlier in the year which ruled him out of competing in Hengelo.
Yearwood is the fastest teenager in Europe this year with the 10.30 he clocked at the British under-20 championships last month. His team mate Alex Nelson, last year's World Junior Championships 200m bronze medallist, leads the way in the longer sprint, making Britain also the favourites in the 4x100m relay, an event they have won at seven out of the last 11 Championships.
Big effort from Eftimova
Bulgaria's Tezdzhan Naimova won the 2006 World Junior Championships 100m and 200m gold medals and this time it is Inna Eftimova, who didn't make it out of the heats in either event in Beijing, who is expected to fly the flag for her country.
Eftimova has put behind her the disappointment of her below-par outings in China and has been regularly running faster than any other junior in Europe this year over both distances.
Hengelo in the coming days will witness the 19th European Athletic Junior Championships. The Championships made their official debut in 1970 following unofficial European Junior Games in 1964, 1966 and 1968, making the meeting the second oldest junior continental championship after the South America Confederation which has staged junior events since 1959.
Phil Minshull for the IAAF
