The European Athletics U20 Championships will be streamed live in its entirety on the European Athletics website. This will happen courtesy of Eurovision Sport and will be accompanied by expert English-language commentary.
Among the standout names on the entry list are Great Britain’s two-time European U20 cross country champion Innes FitzGerald. She recently smashed Zola Budd’s 40-year-old European U20 5000m record with 14:39.56 in the London Diamond League.
FitzGerald has entered both the 3000m and 5000m events. She will be looking to emulate Latvia’s Agate Caune, who won both titles at the 2023 European Athletics U20 Championships.
From Banska Bystrica from Tampere…
The entry list features no fewer than 30 individual gold medallists from the 2024 European Athletics U18 Championships in Banska Bystrica. The list includes Czechia’s Michal Rada. Rada shattered the European U18 best with 49.42 to win the 400m hurdles (84.0cm barriers) last year.
Rada has improved to 49.08 over the senior height barriers this year. The 18-year-old leads the entry list by a whopping 1.4 seconds. His twin sister Nina Radova, who also won gold in the women’s 400m hurdles last year, is another champion from Banská Bystrica. And she will also be competing in Tampere.
Three gold medallists from the 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima are also on the entry-list. This includes world U20 shot put champion Jarno Van Daalen from the Netherlands. He is the younger brother of three-time European U20 and U23 champion Alida. He leads the entry list in both the shot put (21.08m) and discus (66.31m).
Meta Tumba, who was part of France’s gold medal-winning team in the 4x400m at the 2023 European Athletics U20 Championships. She will be looking to add the European U20 400m hurdles title to her world U20 title. Meanwhile, Croatia’s Jana Koscak will be seeking another major age-group title in the heptathlon.
A handful of gold medallists from the recent European Youth Olympic Festival in Skopje will be competing in Tampere. They include Italy’s 15-year-old Kelly Doualla, who won the 100m title in a European U18 best of 11.21. Also, Estonia’s Allika Inkeri Moser, who cleared a world U18 best of 4.52m in the pole vault.
Principal Finnish medal hopes include European U18 heptathlon champion Enni Virjonen. Also, world U20 discus bronze medallist Mico Lampinen and Aatu Kangasniemi. Kangasniemi is second on the 2025 European U20 list in both the shot put (20.51m) and hammer (76.32m).
In-depth previews for the European Athletics U20 Championships will be published on the European Athletics website from Thursday (31) onwards.
