Innes FitzGerald leads the 3000m at the European U20 Championships in Tampere (© Getty Images)
Innes FitzGerald completed the 3000m/5000m double at the European U20 Championships in Tampere on Sunday (10), breaking a championship record that had stood for 32 years.
The Briton, who had won the 5000m on Thursday, the opening day of the four-day championships, produced another dominant display to win the 3000m title by more than 22 seconds. Her winning time of 8:46.39 was a four-second improvement on the championship record that had been set by the legendary Gabby Szabo back in 1993.
“It was a big ask to do the double, but I knew it was in me,” said FitzGerald, who earlier this year set a European U20 5000m record of 14:39.56. “I’m pleased to come away with the win today and to get the championship record was the icing on the cake.”
Italy’s Kelly Ann Maevane Doualla Edimo also added a second gold medal to her collection. The 15-year-old, who had won the 100m title earlier in the championships in 11.22, anchored her team to victory in the women’s 4x100m in a national U20 record of 43.72.
Norway’s Hakon Moe Berg also earned two gold medals, emulating compatriot Jakob Ingebrigtsen who won the 5000m and steeplechase double at the 2017 edition. Berg won the 3000m on Saturday in 8:43.20, then returned to the track 24 hours later to take the 1500m title in 3:47.36.
Swedish pole vaulter Axel Rogo was another to follow in his esteemed compatriot’s footsteps. He produced a PB of 5.45m to become the first Swedish man to win the European U20 pole vault title since Mondo Duplantis in 2017.
As was the case at the 2023 World Championships, all race walk titles were won by Spaniards. Joan Querol took the men’s 10,000m race walk title in a championship record of 39:10.04 while Sofia Santacreu claimed the women’s event in a world U20 lead of 43:47.89.
The championship records fell in both 400m hurdles finals. Czechia’s Michal Rada took almost half a second off the men’s record to win by almost a second in 48.78. By contrast, the women’s final was a lot tighter as Romania’s Alexandra Stefania Uta won by just 0.01 from France’s Meta Tumba, clocking 55.55. Both women were inside the previous championship record.
There was also a world U20 lead for heptathlon winner Jana Koscak. The world U20 champion added the continental age-group title to her collection by equalling her own Croatian record of 6293, holding off a strong challenge from Hungary’s Sarolta Kriszt (6251).
Matteo Togni produced a PB of 13.27 to win the men’s 110m hurdles title, bringing Italy’s gold medal tally to six, putting them at the top of the table ahead of Great Britain and Spain.
