Three more World junior records for Angelica Bengtsson in Stockholm, all the way to 4.63m (© DECA Text&Bild)
Tallinn, EstoniaLatvian javelin thrower Zigismunds Sirmais and Swedish pole vaulter Angelica Bengtsson will have the spotlight on them at the 21st European Athletics Junior Championships, which start in the Estonian capital Tallinn on Thursday (21).
However, there will be a plethora of other teenage talents in action during fours days of competition with names such as the latest exciting French sprinter Jimmy Vicaut, Great Britain’s new hurdles discovery Andy Pozzi as well as Russian high jumper Mariya Kuchina catching the eye.
Will Sirmais make it a record hat-trick?
Sirmais has already re-written the record books twice this year, the only man to set a World junior record: firstly eclipsing Andreas Thorkildsen’s former mark with a throw of 84.47m at the European Cup Winter Throwing event in Sofia back in March and then launching his spear out to 84.69m on home soil in Baukska last month.
“My target at the European Juniors is not only the gold medal but also to get over 85 metres. I’m excited because the competition will be held close to Latvia, Estonia is our neighbour on the Baltic, so I’m sure I will have my family and friends there,” said Sirmais recently.
Bengtsson - who already has gold medals from the 2009 World Youth Championships, the 2010 World Junior Championships and the Youth Olympic Games last year - had a stunning winter and had two competitions in which she set World junior records, culminating in her going over 4.63m at the XL-Galan meeting in Stockholm.
Minor injuries have halted her making a similar impact so far this summer but she has rested in recent weeks to be fit for these championships.
Vicaut ready to follow in Lemaitre’s footsteps?
France took the men’s 100m title two years ago in Novi Sad, Serbia, when Christophe Lemaitre ran a stunning European junior record of 10.04 and Jimmy Vicaut looks like the man to follow in his footsteps.
Vicaut, who ran 10.16 last year and won a World Junior Championships bronze medal in Canada, leads this season’s list with 10.20 - and he also has a windy 10.11 to his name this year - is nine-hundredths quicker than his nearest rival, the British sprinter David Bolarinwa.
The young Frenchman is also the quickest man in the 200m with a personal best of 21.02.
Pozzi and Williams in position
Great Britain’s Andy Pozzi elevated himself to the position of 110m Hurdles favourite in Tallinn after he clocked a national junior record of 13.29 in Mannheim, Germany, last month.
His run moved him up to third on the European all-time junior rankings over 99cm barriers, with Poland’s Artur Noga holding the continental record with 13.23. He is also now ranked seventh on the global list.
“I’d only run 13.61 before this weekend and I needed a decent time to put me in the right frame of mind for the European Athletics Junior Championships; halfway through today’s race I knew it had the potential to be really quick if I could stay clear of the hurdles, and now that I’ve run that time I’m feeling really good,” said Pozzi in Mannheim.
However, the 110m Hurdles could potentially be the highlight of the track events at these championships and Pozzi will have to be on top form to triumph, which could lead to some spectacular times if the conditions are favourable.
Germany’s Gregor Traber set a German junior record of 13.31 last month and the presence of 2010 World Junior Championships bronze medallist Jack Meredith gives Britain two very good chances of getting on the podium.
Another athlete who could help Great Britain towards having their best championships in two decades – they took 11 gold medals in Thessaloniki in 1991 – is sprinter Jodie Williams.
She’s already a known quantity after taking the 100m and 200m double as a 15-year-old at the World Youth Championships two years ago and she won the 100m gold and 200m silver at the World Junior Championships last year.
Williams, still only 17, has also made prodigious progress in senior competition as well and was fourth over 60m at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in March.
She recently ran 11.24m and has two-tenths to spare over her nearest likely rival in the 100m, the Dutch junior record holder and 2010 World Junior Championships bronze medallist Jamile Samuel.
With Williams in their team, Great Britain is also the favourites for the 4x100m relay.
Russia is ready
Russia though always sends strong teams, and especially their women, to these Championships and has topped the medal table at the last three editions.
Among the Russian hopes to add to their massive gold reserves are women’s 400m Hurdles favourite and current World junior champion Vera Rudakova, who clocked an excellent personal best of 57.10 at the Russian junior championships at the start of the month.
Rudakova’s team mate Mariya Kuchina aims to follow Natalya Mamlina and keep the High Jump title in Russian hands.
She won at the Youth Olympic Games last year and went over a World junior indoor best of 1.97m this winter. A clearance of 1.94m at the Russian junior championships shows she is moving into form at the right time.
Inevitably, it is impossibly to run the rule over 44 events but a brief mention should be given to a few other athletes who could make their mark in Tallinn.
Hungary’s Marcell Deák Nagy is the only European junior under 46 seconds this season and set national junior record of 45.74 at the end of June. Barring accidents, he should add a continental gold medal to his World Junior Championships silver medal from 12 months ago.
France’s Pierre Ambroise Bosse set a French 800m junior record of 1:46.18 in Reims on 5 July and will start as the favourite although Sweden’s surprise 2009 World Youth Championships gold medallist Johan Rogestedt is also in the field.
Among the women over two laps of the track, after her recent Ukrainian junior record of 2:00.37, Anastasiya Tkuchuk has more than three seconds advantage over her closest 800m rival this year, Great Britain’s Rowena Cole.
Another national junior record setter this year is Russia’s Nikita Anishchenkov who cleared 2.30m recently at his national junior championships in Cheboksary and could follow in the footsteps of his compatriot Sergey Mudrov, who took the 2009 European junior title.
Germany’s Lena Malkus is favourite for the Long Jump in the historic Kadriog stadium, which was built in 1926, having improved her personal best to 6.70m. She is 24 centimetres ahead of her nearest rival on the rankings, Romania’s Alina Rotaru.
The Netherlands’ World Junior Championships Heptathlon medallist Dafne Schippers set a Dutch junior record, with senior implements, of 6172 points when finishing an impressive eighth at the famous Hypo meeting in Götzis at the end of May.
The super-talented athlete, who is also an outstanding sprinter and the best European junior over 200m this year - even faster that Williams at 22.90 - is also entered in the 100m, 200m and long jump but at the time of writing it appears that she will concentrate on the Heptathlon.
Phil Minshull for the IAAF
