PAC Rotterdam, of the Netherlands, won the men's Group B at the European Champions Clubs Cup Track and Field Under-20 in Leiria on Saturday as AD Mass Ljubljana took Slovenia back into Group A with victory in the women's event.
MEN
It has been a memorable year for Dutch athletics, from the staging of the European Championships in Amsterdam, to Dafne Schippers' Olympic 200m silver in Rio, and now their under-20 team are the junior track and field champions.
Their success was narrow, just 2.50 points from Sparta AM, of Denmark, and so much of their glory came from taking maximum points in four of the field events.
And in three of those, there were personal best performances from high jumper Rafael Raap (2.06m), pole vaulter Daan Spiljard (4.30m) and discus thrower Shaquille Emanuelson (48.87m) with Marijn van den Born winning the Shot put (16.74m).
These successes were backed up with track wins for Achraf Boutkabout in an amazing 3000m steeplechase in 9:53.12 from Yehonatan Naamad, of Hapoel Leader Jerusalem (9:58.25), and Leevale AC's David Fox (10:28.84), a race where all nine runners recorded personal best times on a day where performances of this top level were shown throughout.
There were also personal bests from all the discus throwers, led by Emanuelson, and in the triple jump, where Dimitrios Afthinos, of Greece's Kifissia Athletic Club, won with 13.98m from PAC's Sergio van deer Meide (13.77m).
Infact, it was a day of best marks for many of the Dutch athletes with Ramsey Angela's victory in the first race of the 400m hurdles in 53.92 being the quickest time overall.
Sparta AM's middle-distance men impressed with William Devantier (1:57.96) first in the 800m and Andreas Hoist Lindgreen taking the honours in the 1500m (4:01.58) but PAC did just enough to become champions.
In the hammer, Hapoel's Yan Maiseyenka really did stand out as he won with a superb throw of 64.62m, a victory by nearly 14 metres with Sparta's August Hallberg in second with 48.70m.
Though TJ Sokol Opava's Jiri Kadla won the javelin with a pb (52.86) and their team took the 4x400m (3:22.44) in a pb, while AD Mass Ljubljana were first overall in the 4x100m (42.69), there was no instant promotion for the two sides relegated 12 months ago.
RESULT
1. PAC (NED) - 131 points
2. Sparta AM (DEN) - 128.50
3. AD Mass Ljubljana (SLO) - 112
4. Hapoel Leader Jerusalem (ISR) - 110
5. TJ Sokol Opava (CZE) - 98.50
6. SK SOG Nitra (SVK) - 83
7. Leeval AC (IRL) - 75
8. Mornar-Bar (MNE) - 56
9. Kifissia Athletic Club (GRE) - 54
WOMEN
Slovenia are back in Group A of this European Champions Clubs Cup Under-20 competition as AD Mass Ljubljana won by 12 points from Lithuania's Nike Klaipeda, who also earned promotion.
Last year, represented by AD Kladivar, Slovenia were relegated from the top flight along with SK SOG Nitra, and the same Slovakian club was fourth this time as they looked to return.
And it was a Champions Cup to remember for Ljubljana's track star Vika Rutar.
As her team won four events on their way to this success, Rutar was part of three of those triumphs.
She ran 63.32 for victory in the 400m hurdles from SK SOG's Nikola Kovacikova (64.00) and then took the baton third from Nika Okorn and Nadja Okorn in the 4x100m relay, handing onto Tea Podbevsek for victory (48.82) ahead of SK SOG (49.18).
Then Rutar ran the first leg of the victorious 4x400m in a team of Klarak Rozman, Klara Zaksek and Vladyslava Tukhay who won (3:57.30) from Nike (4:01.47).
And Sara Sotosek brought the Slovenians more maximum in the triple jump (11.69m), beating Audentes' Zarina Netsiporuk (11.49m) and Nike's Kristina Jasauskaite (11.46m).
First places were spread throughout all the teams, including five victories for Finland's Tampereen Pyrinto where Helena Leveelahti had a fabulous day as she won both the Discus (52.33m) and Hammer (50.13m) with personal bests while teammates Jemina Forss (800m, 2:14.68), Pinja Koivumaki (Pole vault, 3.50m) and Olivia Makinen (Long jump, 5.63m) also triumphed, yet they just missed out on promotion.
In the sprints, Ireland's Sli Cualann won both, with Ara Freeman in the 100m (12.50) and Alana Ryan in the 200m (25.66)
RESULT
1. AD Mass Ljubljana (SLO) - 98
2. Nike Klaipeda (LTU) - 86
3. Tampereen Pyrinto (FIN) - 86
4. SK SOG Nitra (SVK) - 80
5. Audentes Sports Club (EST) - 68
6. Juventude Vidigalense (POR) - 58
7. Sli Cualann AC (IRL) - 50