European Athletics (EAA) – News – How the men’s ‘Class of 2007’ fared as seniors

The sixth edition of the European Athletics Under-23 Championships took place in Debrecen, Hungary, in 2007. European Athletics looks back on how the men's medallists – and some surprising backmarkers – have fared as seniors.

Sprints

The winner of the 100m, Simeon Williamson of Great Britain, went on two years later to win a relay bronze medal in Berlin after winning his country’s national title earlier in the season. The other two medallists, Craig Pickering of Great Britain and France’s Martial Mbandjock became staple fixtures on the circuit. Pickering collected World relay bronze in 2007 and last year Mbandjock matured to take a trio of medals at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona when he added relay gold to his two bronzes over 100m and 200m. Just missing the podium was Italy’s Fabio Cerutti, who two years later made amends by snatching European Indoor silver inTorino.

Finland’s Visa Hongisto took the 200m and later that summer lowered his career best to 20.56, going out in the heats of the Osaka World Championships. At the European Indoor Championships in 2009, he set a national 400m age-group record of 47.70.

400m gold medallist, Denis Alekseyev of Russia, qualified for the Russian Olympic relay squad one year later and hung Beijing bronze around his neck. Proving that you don’t need to be a winner to enjoy later success, Britain’s Richard Buck only finished fifth in Debrecen, but has since bagged five major medals, his latest coming in the Paris European Indoors this winter where he pocketed 400m bronze.

Winner of the 400m Hurdles, Britain’s Dai Greene, is currently one of the favourites for the world title in Daegu. Last year he coasted to European gold before adding the IAAF Continental Cup title to his portfolio in a lifetime best 47.88. This season he won the Lausanne Diamond League against world-class opposition. Last in the final in Debrecen was Stansilav Melnikov of Ukraine who, last year in Barcelona, made great strides to lift European bronze.

Endurance

Over 800m Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski has matured into a feared competitor with a deadly finish, culminating last year in being proclaimed European champion in Barcelona. This winter he added European indoor silver to his cabinet.

After his success in 2007, French steeple star Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad went on to win an Olympic medal in Beijing and the European title in Barcelona.

Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad of France has become an essential part of any steeplechase event. As recently as last week he won the Paris Diamond League to rapturous applause in front of 50,000 French fans, one year on from lifting European gold to add to a magnificent Beijing Olympic silver.

Field Events

Linus Thörnblad, winner of the high jump, is a bit of an anomaly. Already holder of world and European Indoor medals before he went to Hungary, he never quite fulfilled his potential in subsequent major championships. Although he frequently finished amongst the top three in big meetings with impressive heights, he could never quite reproduce that form when it counted. In Barcelona last summer he finished just outside the medals on 2.23 when he had cleared 2.30 in the qualifiers.

The pole vault is possibly the most dramatic example of an athlete maturing from the ranks of novice to world beater. Down in an anonymous tenth was France’s Renaud Lavillenie who has become one of the great exponents of the art. Two years after Debrecen he took World Championship bronze and a year later became European champion. This winter in Paris he raised the roof, pocketing his second gold in the European Indoors in a national record 6.03. Not bad for a man who only cleared 5.30m in Hungary four years earlier.

In the shot, Russia’s Maksim Sidorov is another case in point of the value of slow maturation. Four years after finishing eighth in Debrecen, he secured European Indoor bronze in Bercy last winter.

Decathlon

12 months after striking Decathlon gold, Andrei Krauchanka of Belarus, annexed Olympic silver in the Bird’s Nest stadium to add to his World Indoor silver of the same year. In 2010 he hung European outdoor bronze around his neck, six months before he went to the Palais Omnisports Bercy and collected European indoor gold. Fourth in Debrecen was Ukraine’s Oleksiy Kazyanov who progressed to European indoor silver in Torino 2009.

Walk

20km walk phenomenon, Russia’s Valeriy Borchin, made haste in taking a step up in class by progressing in short order to Olympic gold in Beijing and followed that with World gold in Berlin one year later. Bronze medallist, Sergey Bakulin, claimed a European bronze medal in the 50km Walk in Barcelona last summer.

European Athletics (EAA) – News