Frenchman Ladji Dourouré, winner of the 110m hurdles in Bydgoszcz, went on to become European and world champion two years down the line.

The fourth edition of the European Athletics Under-23 Championships took place in Bydgoszcz, Poland, in 2003. European Athletics looks back on how the men's medallists have fared. 

Men's sprints and hurdles
 
The winner of the 100m, France's Ronald Pognon has gone on to carve out a solid career for himself, clocking an excellent national record of 9.99 in 2005, the same year he lifted relay gold at the Helsinki World Championships. At the 2006 European Athletics Championships he added relay bronze and in the following winter collected 60m European indoor bronze to add to his 2005 silver.

Briton Chris Lambert sped to the 200m gold and in 2005 moved on to European indoor silver, but his time from 2003 of 20.34 when winning in Poland still stands as his best.

Having progressed from the Long Jump in Amsterdam, France's Leslie Dhjone annexed the event he was to become best known for, the 400m. That same year in Paris he made the giant leap to being proclaimed world champion as part of the victorious French 1600m relay squad on home turf, a feat that was replicated in the 2006 Gothenburg European Athletics Championships where he also bagged individual bronze.

Compatriot Ladji Dourouré lifted the sprint hurdles and two years later confirmed his enormous talent by triumphing at the Helsinki World Championships before helping the sprint relay quartet to gold as well. Earlier that winter he had taken gold at the European indoors, a feat he repeated this year in Torino.  

The 400m hurdles champion, Poland's Marek Plawgo, went on to lift world bronze in Osaka 2007, the year after his silver at the European Championships in Gothenburg. In Osaka he also helped the team to a bronze in the long relay, replicating his bronze from the 2003 world indoors.

Endurance

René Herm's career was to be cruelly cut short earlier this year when he passed away at the age of 26. After winning the 800m in 2003 to add to his European junior gold from 2001 he took bronze in the European Cup 2003 before progressing to silver in 2004. His best time of 1:44.12 came in 2004.

The 1500m winner, Mounir Yemmouni of France went on to win silver in the 2005 European Cup and has a best time of 3:32.97 from 2004.

The 5000m champion, Chris Thomson of Great Britain went on to record a personal best of 13:24.60 a year later, while silver medallist Mo Farah (also silver in 2005) has asserted himself of late, striking gold in this year's European Athletics Indoor Championships to add to his Gothenburg 2006 European outdoor silver.

Greece's Ioannis Kanellopoulos won the 10000m in 29:00.78. Three years later he finished seventh in the Athens marathon, thereby lifting the Greek marathon title on what was his debut.

Austria's Martin Proll won the steeplechase in 8:25.86 and was to reduce his best to an excellent 8:13.74 in 2005. Behind him in bronze was Finn Jukka Keskisalo, who coasted to European gold at Gothenburg 2006.

Field

Aleksandr Walerianczyk of Poland claimed gold in the High Jump with a superlative 2.36m, a height he never improved on. Silver was claimed by Russia's Andrey Tereshin, who went on to claim another silver at the world indoors in Moscow three years later.

Ukraine's Oleksandr Korchmid took the Pole Vault with a clearance of 5.50m but was just outside the medals at the 2007 European indoors. Greece's Louis Tsatoumas collected gold in the Long Jump with an excellent 8.24m but went on to even greater distances, culminating in his 8.66m national record at Kalamata in 2007, the year he bagged silver at the European indoors.

Dmitriy Valyukenich of Belarus pocketed the Triple Jump with a massive 17.57m followed by a now even better known Marian Oprea of Romania, who progressed to an Olympic silver in Athens the following year and followed that with bronze at the Helsinki World Championships. He picked up another bronze at Gothenburg 2006. In 2005 he went out to a spectacular national record of 17.81 and has amassed an impressive 71 competitions over 17m.

Norwegian Andreas Thorkildsen, who finished just out of the medals in Bydgoszcz, is the two-time reigning Olympic champion today.

Pavel Lyzhyn of Belarus won the Shot and later distinguished himself by taking silver in the 2007 European indoors. Last year he was fifth in the Beijing Olympics. Rutger Smith of the Netherlands struck gold in the Discus, at which he lifted World Championship bronze in Osaka 2007, but he had already done even better with the Shot two years earlier in Helsinki when he took a shock silver. Hungary's Krisztian Pars won the Hammer and last year collected a fine silver at the Beijing Olympics. He has thrown over the benchmark 80m in no fewer than 38 competitions.

The Javelin class of 2003 has become a veritable Who's Who of modern Javelin throwing. The winner was Russia's Aleksandr Ivanov, who subsequently won two European Cup golds and a silver, but it is to bronze and fourth that the real attention lies. Third was 2007 Wwrld champion Tero Pitkamaki while the double Olympic and reigning European champion, Andreas Thorkildsen, finished just out of the medals.

The Norwegian has also won a brace of world silvers, proving more than anyone that persistence pays off big-time. Further down the field in sixth was Ainars Kovals with a meagre 72.68m. Five years later he clinched Olympic silver in the Bird's Nest stadium with a throw of 86.64m.

Combined events

Germany's Andre Niklaus had already taken the European under-23 decathlon gold medal in Amsterdam and retained his title in Poland 2003. The German finished fourth at the 2005 world championships and lifted the world indoor Heptathlon title at Moscow 2006.

Walk

The 20km Walk title was secured by Poland's Benjamin Kucinski. His highest big-time placing came in 2007 when he was seventh in the Helsinki World Championships.