Norwegian decathlete Markus Rooth at the European U23 Championships (© Getty Images)
Five days of European U23 Championships action in Espoo came to an end on Sunday (16), and the competition ended on a high with Markus Rooth breaking the championship record in the decathlon.
Rooth’s Norwegian record had been broken earlier this year by Sander Skotheim, who was also competing in Espoo and went into the championships as the slight favourite, having smashed his PB with 8590 to finish third in Götzis.
Skotheim performed well, too, and came close to matching his score from Götzis, finishing with 8561. But in a competition where Rooth was at his best in almost every discipline – he set six individual PBs – Skotheim finished runner-up as Rooth regained his Norwegian record with 8608.
Rooth started with a 100m PB of 10.81 and followed it with a wind-assisted 7.61m in the long jump, putting him in second place overall behind Skotheim, who opened with 10.86 in the 100m and 7.70m in the long jump.
A 15.31m PB in the shot put gave Rooth the overall lead, but Skotheim regained it after clearing 2.15m in the high jump before ending the day with a 47.69 clocking in the 400m. Rooth, meanwhile, managed 2.03m in the high jump and 49.05 in the 400m, both marks PBs, to end the first day 73 points adrift of his compatriot.
Rooth out-performed or matched Skotheim in the first four events of day two, clocking 14.43 in the 110m hurdles and throwing 48.63m in the discus, after which Rooth was back at the top of the leaderboard. Both men cleared 5.10m in the pole vault, and Rooth extended his lead again in the javelin, throwing 63.71m to Skotheim’s 57.93m.
Skotheim clawed back some of the deficit in the 1500m, thanks to a Herculean PB of 4:16.60 in the 1500m. But Rooth also pulled out a PB, 4:29.66, which was enough to hold on to the victory.
Sven Roosen of the Netherlands took third place with 8128.
It was a great day for the Rooth family, as Markus’s cousin Andrea Rooth struck gold in the women’s 400m hurdles. The 21-year-old smashed her PB to win in 55.78 with Louise Maraval of France finishing close behind in 55.83.
Greek javelin thrower Elina Tzengko won her third continental age-group title, albeit one year after earning senior European gold. The 20-year-old found 60.73m sufficient to secure the gold medal, having thrown 61.52m in qualifying.
Italy’s Larissa Iapichino went out to 6.93m in the first round of the long jump, which remained the best leap of the day by quite some margin. Sweden’s Maja Askag took silver with 6.73m.
Iapichino’s is the second continental title for her family, as her mother Fiona May won European indoor gold in 1998.
And Iapichino wasn’t the only daughter of a former world and European champion to win in Espoo.
Sophie O’Sullivan – daughter of Sonia O’Sullivan – led an Irish 1-2 in the women’s 1500m. She set a PB of 4:07.18 to finish 0.18 ahead of teammate Sarah Healy.
Hosts Finland added to their medal tally on the final day thanks to two-time world U20 silver medallist Juho Alasaari in the men’s pole vault. As the competition started to heat up with the bar at 5.66m, Alasaari slipped to third after clearing it on his third attempt. France’s Robin Emig held the lead at that point from Norway’s Pal Haugen Lillefosse.
But Alasaari nailed a first-time clearance at the next height, 5.71m, to add 11 centimetres to his PB. Emig and Lillefosse, having both failed their first tries, moved on to the next height but were unsuccessful.
Great Britain ended the championships at the top of the medals table with 14 medals, seven of them gold. They added to their tally on Sunday thanks to Rory Leonard’s 29:08.33 victory in the 10,000m.
The final track race of the championships – the women’s 4x400m – was also one of the closest.
The lead changed several times throughout the race, Poland being the first to show their hand with strong legs from Kinga Gacka and Aleksandra Formella. Switzerland then came to the fore thanks to a 51.58 split from Giulia Senn, the fifth-place finisher in the individual 400m.
Switzerland’s anchor, Catia Gubelmann, managed to hold on to the lead heading into the home straight, but four other teams – Spain, Poland, France and Norway – were chasing hard. France’s Louise Maraval, the runner-up in the 400m hurdles, produced a storming 50.61 anchor leg and timed her finish to perfection to grab victory on the line in 3:30.60.
Switzerland finished 0.02 in arrears to take silver with Spain securing bronze. Surprisingly, Maraval’s effort wasn’t the fastest split of the race; that belonged to Norway’s Henriette Jaeger, the 400m silver medallist, who ran a 50.59 anchor.
