Ismail Nezir and Berke Akcam landed a 1-2 for Türkiye at the 2023 European Athletics U23 Championships in Espoo on Sunday (16) morning, the penultimate session of the championships.
The Turkish duo both lined up for the men’s 400m hurdles final with considerable championship pedigree, Akcam having landed world U20 gold in Nairobi in 2021 and Nezir winning the same title a year later in Cali.
But they delivered on the expectation, despite the threat of Sweden’s Oskar Edlund who took it out and led into the home straight. The Turks’ strength told and Nezir took charge at the penultimate barrier, charging home to win in 49.19. Akcam overhauled Edlund for silver, finishing in 49.48. The Swede was rewarded with a personal best of 49.57 to go with his bronze.
“I am so happy and excited,” said a thrilled Nezir afterwards. “We planned to have a double win and we did it with my Turkish teammate. We are very proud of ourselves. We have worked hard for this."
Rooth adds another chapter to Norway's 400m hurdles tradition
The women’s 400m hurdles was another full-blooded contest. Running from lane three Norway’s Andrea Rooth, also a heptathlete, took it out from the gun, quickly eating up the stagger and leading into the home straight.
And although France’s Louise Maraval and Austria’s Lena Pressler bore down on her, Rooth hung on to win in 55.78, adding the U23 title to the European U20 gold she won two years ago in Tallinn.
Maraval won silver in a personal best of 55.83, with Pressler setting an outright national record of 55.94 in third, the first Austrian to break the 56 second-barrier in the event.
“I gave it all and it worked,” said a breathless Rooth. “Nothing is better than that. I know my starts are fast and some people say that maybe it would be smarter to slow down at the start, but I always get that good feeling and I want to keep going with that start. Then, I know it is going to be really good. Maybe the rocket starts are the Norwegian speciality?”
Leonard completes the British distance set
Rory Leonard completed a British clean sweep of gold in the 5000m and 10,000m events in Espoo. Earlier in the week, Charlie Hicks took the men’s 5000m and Scots Megan Keith and Alice Goodall won the women’s 5000m and 10,000m. This time it was Leonard’s turn for glory. In the warm and windy conditions, Leonard’s measured approach paid dividends.
Poland’s Mateusz Gos made a bold bid to run away from the field, stretching to a 100 metre lead. But with 2500 metres to go, the pack devoured him. Leonard was the next to make a move, this time with four laps to go. And this time it was decisive, running clear to the finish in 29:08.33.
Italy’s Francesco Guerra initially tried to go with him, but eventually settled in for silver coming home in 29:11.86. Bronze went to Spain’s Miguel Baidal in 29:14.91.
But after two ninth place finishes at the 2018 European U18 Championships over 3000m and at the 2019 European U20 Championships over 5000m, victory was sweet for Leonard.
Afterwards, he said: “When I saw the Polish runner going to the front, I thought ‘If he is going to win this race from this position, he deserves to win.’ Because it was very windy and that is a lonely 25 laps and that is very hard to play.
“It was like a carrot chase as we kept going a little bit. Fair enough, if you can do it, you can do it. But I knew who the guys were on the start line. It was just too early, plenty of time. I have been to all the championships since I was under 18 and underperformed at every single one.
“But this time, I was like, I have done my homework, I have done all the training, be patient, do not do anything silly and hopefully, that will pay off. I had kind of tough last two years with some personal stuff, so this happening today, it is great. I do not take it as a redemption but kind of relief. I have got a lot of great people around my corner and I kind of did it for them.”
Double gold for Van Daalen
There was another thrilling double in the field, where the Netherlands’ Alida van Daalen added women’s discus gold to the shot gold she won earlier in the week. In windy conditions, the Dutch athlete produced the furthest four throws of the competition, capped with a fifth round best of 56.77m.
"Gold is gold," said Van Daalen. "I must say I am very much releaved because it was long few days with these two events. After the shot put, I said that we will see what comes in the discus but of course, the double gold was somewhere in my mind. I wanted to do it because I want to make a history. There is not many people who managed to win two golds in two events."
Silver went to Türkiye's Ozlem Becerek with her fifth round 55.38m, as Turkiye’s late championship flourish continued. Norway’s Lotta Flatum won bronze with a final round 54.45m.
As with the heptathlon earlier in the week, the decathlon is now building into an exciting duel for the gold medal. Sander Skotheim led overnight by 93 points, but has been overhauled by Norwegian team mate Markus Rooth, cousin to 400m hurdles winner Andrea.
Rooth coped better in the headwind in the 110m hurdles, clocking 14.43 (-1.2m/s) to Skotheim’s 14.68 (-1.2m/s). Then in the discus, he unleashed a final round season’s best of 48.63m, compared to Skotheim’s 43.31m. It leaves Rooth 48 points clear on 6126 points with the pole vault, javelin and 1500m to come.
Both Norwegians are on course to challenge the four year old championship record of 8572 held by Germany’s Niklas Kaul.