Pole vaulter Juho Alasaari gave the home crowd the perfect climax to a superb European Athletics U23 Championships in Espoo on Sunday (16) evening, winning Finland's third gold medal of the championships.
The 19-year-old improved his personal best by 11 centimetres to 5.71m to win a surprising gold in the men’s pole vault. After clearing 5.66m at the final attempt, he took control of the competition with a first-time clearance at 5.71m.
After failures at 5.71m, pre-event favourite European bronze medallist Pål Haugen Lillefosse of Norway and France’s Robin Emig moved straight to 5.76m. But after two failures, gold belonged to the young Finn. Emig took silver on countback from Lillefosse, their best clearances being at 5.66m.
After the event Alasaari was understandably delighted: "Before the competition I just thought that ‘let me jump high.’ And when the bar is a record level, it feels nice to go over.
"Before the competition I made half jokes with Lillefosse from Norway that he would only get silver today, and I would win the gold, but then it happened! The gold medal feels unbelievable, and it is amazing feeling when everyone here is cheering on me. It gave me extra push today. The atmosphere in Espoo has been magical."
European champion Tzengko deals with the pressure in the javelin
Greek javelin thrower Elina Tzengko completed a hat-trick of European titles as she won the U23 gold to go with the senior title she won in Munich 2022 and the European U20 gold she won in Tallinn 2021.
She was not quite at her best. But her third round best of 59.24m was enough to take the gold. Then with the pressure off, she unleashed a final round 60.73m to put the cherry on the cake. Estonia’s Gedly Tugi won silver with 57.62m and Finland’s Anni-Liinnea Alanen gave the home fans plenty to shout about, taking bronze with 56.67m.
“I know I have accomplished a lot already in my career but that makes me even more nervous before the start,” said Tzengko “I want to fulfil all the expectations. Maybe that was also the reason why I did not manage to throw further today.
"I wanted this medal so much that it just made me feel a bit nervous. But I have a lot of confidence before the upcoming World Championships, I will train even harder for that and I believe I can show a good performance in Budapest."
Historic gold medals for Israel and Cyprus on the final day in Espoo.
Israel’s Blessing Afrifah thwarted the challenge of flying Dutchman Raphael Bouju to win the men’s 200m. It was the first gold medal Israel have ever won at these championships, but it looked to be slipping from Afrifah’s grasp as Bouju reeled him in down the home straight.
But the world U20 champion just hung on to win by 0.01 in 20.67 (-1.1m/s). For Bouju, taking part in his eighth race of the championships, it was his second silver medal, after placing second in the men’s 100m. Bronze went to Switzerland’s Timothé Mumenthaler in 20.85.
“Coming to Espoo, I was thinking about Tallinn 2021 where I was third and I wanted to get on the podium again,” said Afrifah. “But this time, I was aiming for the gold. In all the rounds, I was really stressed. But in the final, I felt I had to do it. It was my chance. And I did not miss it, so I am blessed. It is a big honour for me to become the first Israeli to win this gold. The first moment I realised I am the champion was only on the finish line.”
In the women’s high jump, Elena Kulichenko won Cyprus’ first ever gold medal at the European U23 Championships. She justified her top ranking with first time clearances right through to 1.89m. Then she cleared 1.91 at the second attempt to seal gold.
"I think what gave me the gold was that I was completely able to focus on myself and not on others, because this is the only thing I can control," said the well-travelled winner who was born in Russia but trains and studies in the United States.
Nkansa triumphs in the 200m after near misses in the 100m and 4x100m
Delphine Nkansa made up for her earlier disappointments by winning the women’s 200m final. She missed out of the medals by finishing fourth in the women’s 100m final and fifth in the 4x100m final with her Belgian teammates earlier this week.
But this time, she earned her place on top of the podium by holding her form throughout to win in 23.31 (-0.1m/s). Hungary’s Boglárka Takács put in a superb challenge from the inside lane and won silver in 23.33, matching the same result at the 2018 European U18 Championships.
Bronze went to Greece’s Polyniki Emmanouilidou in 23.41, another welcome result after finishing 5th in the 100m final. Italy’s defending champion Dalia Kaddari faded to fifth in 23.52 after leading into the home straight.
The 4x400m finals never fail to excite and Espoo was no exception. In the men’s event, strength in depth told for Italy and they were never less than second place.
In the final leg, Lorenzo Benati, fifth in the individual, bore down on Great Britain’s anchor man Edward Faulds. Benati took charge on the home straight to bring the baton home in 3:02.49. A barn-storming final leg timed at 44.63 from 400m hurdles gold medallist Ismail Nezir gave Türkiye silver with 3:03.04. Great Britain won bronze with 3:03.12.
A pulsating final leg from Louise Maraval gave France gold in the women’s 4x400m. After winning 400m hurdles silver earlier in the day, Maraval showed no ill effects, dragging her team up from fourth place at the bell.
It looked to be between Poland and Switzerland into the final leg as Wiktoria Drodz and Catia Gubelmann battled it out into the home straight. But Maraval stuck to her task and dipped at the finish just ahead of Gubelmann to give France the gold in 3:30.60.
The Swiss were clocked just 0.02 behind in a national U23 record and - as Poland’s Drodz faded - Carmen Aviles snatched bronze for Spain in 3:33.11, another national U23 record.
Yanis Meziane was rewarded for a brave front-running performance with gold in the men’s 800m. He led for virtually the whole race and just held off a late sprint from Great Britain’s Ethan Hussey by 0.03 to take gold in 1:45.92. Paul Anselmini added further French flavour by winning bronze in 1:45.99.
Spain’s Alejandro Quijada made a stunning last lap burst to take gold in the men’s 3000m steeplechase. Lying fifth at the bell, he wound up the pace on the back straight and hunted down Portugal’s Etson Baros to claim the lead by the water jump. He streaked clear to win in a personal best of 8:28.91.
Baros had to settle for silver to go with European U20 silver two years ago, European U20 bronze in 2019 and European U18 bronze in 2018. He clocked 8:32:08. Poland’s Maciej Magier looked set for bronze, but slipped in the water jump and faded badly to 12th. Instead, bronze went to France’s fast finishing Baptiste Baptiste Guyon in 8:33.64.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics