Agate Caune reacts to her 3000m win at the European U20 Championships in Jerusalem (© Getty Images)
Agate Caune, Niels Laros and Marek Zakrzewski claimed two titles apiece at the four-day European U20 Championships in Jerusalem, which came to a close on Thursday (10).
Latvia’s Caune achieved one of the two championship records set in Israel as she improved the 5000m mark by more than 17 seconds one day after winning the 3000m. The second championship record fell in the men’s long jump, where Italy’s Mattia Furlani leapt 8.23m but still only won by a single centimetre in a thrilling clash with Bulgaria’s Bozhidar Saraboyukov.
Caune went into the championships as a European U20 silver medallist thanks to her 5000m performance as a 16-year-old in Tallinn in 2021. Now the 19-year-old is a double champion as she won the 3000m in 8:53.20 on Wednesday and followed that with her record-breaking 15:03.85 victory in the 5000m on Thursday.
She front ran her way to the 3000m title, threatening the championship record and winning by 28 seconds ahead of Poland’s Zuzanna Wiernicka and Germany’s Sofia Benfares. Her plan had been to run comfortably and return ready to tackle the 5000m and that’s what she did, winning her second gold medal by more than 46 seconds after a 70-second last lap. Germany’s Kira Weis was second, finishing just ahead of Denmark’s Sofia Thogersen, who added bronze to the 1500m silver she won behind Turkiye’s Dilek Kocak.
“I didn’t think I would run so fast, but I felt great during the race and I’m extremely happy about the record result,” said Caune. “I had the splits and my coach told me to push if I felt great, so I did.”
Laros also achieved a distance double, adding 5000m gold on Thursday to the 1500m title he claimed one day earlier. In the 1500m he closed with a 51.35 last lap to win a tactical race, clocking 3:56.78 to win by almost three seconds ahead of Austria’s Kevin Kamenschak (3:59.73) and Czechia’s Ondrej Gajdos (4:00.98).
Niels Laros celebrates his 1500m win at the European U20 Championships in Jerusalem (© Getty Images)
The 18-year-old, who ran 3:32.89 for 1500m earlier in the season to put himself behind only Jakob Ingebrigtsen on the European U20 all-time list, then won the 5000m in 14:11.82 in a closer contest ahead of Sweden’s Jonathan Grahn (14:12.73), who won the 3000m on Wednesday in 8:44.67, and Austria’s Kevin Kamenschak (14:15.02).
“I never underestimate anyone,” said Laros after his 1500m win. “Everyone made it to the final, everyone wants to do his best. I do not want to look arrogant, but I think it was hard to beat me today.”
Back in Jerusalem, where he claimed his two European U18 titles in 2022, Laros added: “I would say I’ve changed a lot over the past year. When I was here last year I had just switched to my new coach (Tomasz Lewandowski), and now I really feel the improvement and the strength he’s given me.”
The first of the week’s double title winners was Zakrzewski, who won 100m gold in a national U20 record of 10.25 on Tuesday and followed that with the 200m title in 20.63 on Wednesday.
That saw him become the first athlete to secure a men’s 100m and 200m double since Britain’s Darren Campbell in 1991.
“I am feeling like a big athletics star at the moment, it feels amazing,” said the 17-year-old. “I am making history and still, I am one of the youngest of the sprinters here. So, it is fantastic. I have two gold medals at 100 and 200m - mission completed.”
Marek Zakrzewski in 100m action at the European U20 Championships in Jerusalem (© Getty Images)
Joy Eze led a British top two in the women’s 100m, taking the title in 11.39, just 0.01 ahead of her teammate Renee Regis, while the women’s 200m was won by Sweden’s Nora Lindahl in 23.26 ahead of Hungary’s Alexa Sulyán, who features on the host nation team for the upcoming World Athletics Championships Budapest 23.
Furlani was another athlete who claimed double gold at last year’s European U18 Championships, winning the long jump and the high jump in Jerusalem. He decided to focus on the long jump on his return and led a great battle, leaping his championship record of 8.23m in the first round. While Saraboyukov responded with a PB of 8.22m in the second round, he couldn’t go any farther and so secured silver, with bronze claimed by Ukraine’s Nikita Masliuk.
“I want to congratulate Bozhidar because he is a great person, a great athlete, it was crazy,” said Furlani, who now heads to Budapest for the World Athletics Championships. “My only thoughts were jump, work hard. In the second jump there was too much wind and I started feeling the pressure of the competition. I decided not to do the last jump because I was tired, and I want to go to Budapest at my best.”
Angelina Topic and Melwin Lycke Holm both have successful athletics parents, but they are forging their own path in the sport and gained gold medals in Jerusalem. Serbia’s Topic, who is coached by her father Dragutin, the 1990 European champion, won the women’s high jump with a clearance of 1.90m, while Sweden’s Holm, the son of 2004 Olympic champion Stefan, took the men’s title on countback with a best of 2.18m.
Dragutin Topic, Melwin Lycke Holm, Angelina Topic and Stefan Holm celebrate at the European U20 Championships (© Getty Images)
Topic’s teammate Adriana Vilagos, the two-time world U20 champion, won the women’s javelin with a 58.38m throw. In the men's event, Hungary’s Gyorgy Herczeg had set a European U20 record of 84.98m in the lead up to the championships and he lived up to his favourite billing, throwing 79.45m in the third round to win. He is another home star who will be competing at the World Championships in Budapest.
Finland’s Max Lampinen recorded a world U20 lead of 79.72m to top the men’s hammer, while Elizabeth Ndudi won a battle with Bulgaria’s Plamena Mitkova to take the women’s long jump by just two centimetres with her Irish U20 record of 6.56m. In a close final, just five centimetres separated the medallists, Germany’s Laura Raquel Müller getting bronze with 6.51m, while Sweden’s Ayla Hallberg Hossain was just one centimetre back, finishing fourth with 6.50m.
Ukraine’s Mykhailo Brudin threw a world U20 lead of 65.48m to top qualification for the discus final and once there, the world U20 bronze medallist threw even farther, improving his PB to 66.58m to add European U20 gold to his European U18 title from last year.
Germany’s European U18 champion Amadeus Graber led a podium of 8000-point-plus performances to win the decathlon, scoring 8209 to take the title ahead of Austria’s Matthias Lasch (8052) and Switzerland’s Andrin Huber (8009).
Germany’s Sandrina Sprengel won the heptathlon, scoring 5928 points, while Switzerland’s world U20 1000m record-holder Audrey Werro retained the 800m title she won in 2021, clocking 2:03:38 ahead of Britain’s Abigail Ives and 1500m winner Kocak.
Curly Brown led a sweep of the medals for Germany in the women’s discus, throwing a 53.93m PB, and Germany topped the medal table at the end of the championships with 23 medals – eight gold, eight silver and seven bronze. Sweden were second (5, 2, 0) and Czechia third (3, 1, 4).
