European Athletics (EAA) – News – Men’s preview: Tamgho, Kszczot, Storl among stars at European Athletics U23 Championships

World indoor triple jump champion and world record holder Teddy Tamgho, European 800m indoor champion Adam Kszczot and Germany's European indoor shot put medallist David Storl are just three names that stand out among the men set to compete at the Ostrava 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships taking place 14-17 July.

Sprints and hurdles

All eyes will be on Britain’s James Alaka in the 100m to see if he can make it three in a row for Great Britain in an event they are starting to dominate. Now studying at the University of Washington, the 21-year-old went back to the home country at the end of June to contest the trials for Ostrava and slipped into top gear for a career best 10.23.

That makes the Clarence Callender coached sprinter the fastest man in the field, but his compatriot, Andrew Robertson, was only 0.06 down in that race and will be eager to spring a surprise on Alaka.

Completing a trio of medal favourites is Italy’s Michael Tumi who is also coming into form after taking the honours at his country’s trials in a lifetime best 10.35 into a slight headwind. Other medal contenders are Turkey’s Izzet Safer and Latvia’s Elvijs Misans, both on 10.37; Misans clocking a national age-group record.

In the absence of triple European champion Christophe Lemaitre, who withdrew in the last minute, a former Jamaican now representing Switzerland, Alex Wilson, who set a new national age-group figure of 20.51 for the 200m in Geneva at the end of May is among the front runners for the 200m title. Third fastest on paper this year is Greece’s Likourgos-Stefanos Tsakonas, Balkan champion Petar Kremenski of Bulgaria and Britain’s Alaka, who is doubling, should all make the final.

The British duo of Luke Lennon-Ford and Nigel Levine are the only ones to have dipped under 46sec so far this year and Levine in particular will be keen to go one better than the silver he picked up two years ago in Kaunas. Poland’s Mateusz Formanski came close to the benchmark in Gdansk when he took his nation’s trials at the beginning of the month in 46.17. All will need to be wary, however, of Russia’s Vladimir Krasnov, who picked up relay gold in Barcelona last summer. His season’s best is a modest 46.32 but his career best, which came last year, is an impressive 45.12.

In the high hurdles, the Russian event leaders, Konstantin Shabanov, Sergey Shubenkov and Aleksey Dryomin, will be hard to dislodge. They scooped the top three places in their nation’s trials, all with personal bests. But Britain’s Lawrence Clarke, former European junior champion, might get amongst them after his lifetime best of 13.59 in Germany recently.

Great Britain dominates the 400m hurdles in the season’s rankings and they are sending their best man in Nathan Woodward. After his national age-group record of 49.06 in the trials, Woodward then travelled to Switzerland to completely revise that time with a world class 48.71. Compatriots Jack Green and Thomas Phillips have both dipped under 50sec with Emir Bekric of Serbia coming close when he lifted the Balkan title.

Endurance

European indoor 800m champion Adam Kszczot of Poland is another firm favourite for the gold medal in his event.

Poland’s Adam Kszczot, knows the Ostrava track well after setting a national record for 1000m of 2:16.99 here in May. Kszczot finally emerged out of the shadow of compatriot Marcin Lewandowski when he pocketed the European indoor title this winter. Since then, he has gone on to set a sparkling personal best of 1:44.30 over two laps and is firm favourite for the title.

Reacquainting himself with the Pole is Spain’s Kevin Lopez who followed Kszczot home in Paris this winter to take bronze while Britain’s Mukhtar Mohammed and France’s Paul Renaudie have dipped under 1:47 this summer to be reasonable aspirants to a medal.

Florian Carvalho is the French hope for the 1500m after his 3:36.03 in Rabat. Three places down in that race was Belgium’s Jeroen D’Hoedt, the second fastest man in the field while Austria’s Andreas Vojta has set six personal bests this year over a range of distances and is clearly on an upward curve. As ever the Spaniards will be dangerous, David Bustos being the pick of the bunch while danger man and defending champion is Russia’s Ivan Tukhtachev. Widely regarded as heir to the Yuriy Borzakovskiy mantle, Tukhtachev has good speed over two laps which might prove decisive once again in a tactical race.

The Norwegians are out in force hoping for success in the 5000m. The two fastest men in the field, Sindre Buraas and Sondre Norstad Moen, will have to be wary of Italy’s Ahmed El Mazoury and New Mexico-based Briton Ross Millington. The two Norwegians also go in the 10000m where Ukraine’s Ihor Olefirenko, Sweden’s Mikael Ekvall and El Mazoury have the best chance of medals.

It is hard to see anyone resisting the Spanish duo of Abdelaziz Merzougui and Sebastian Martos in the steeplechase. Martos was fourth in the last edition and his experience might serve him well against his faster team-mate. But the French have a fine tradition in this event and Abdelatif Hadjam and Tanguy Pepiot could rise to the occasion. Apart from the Spaniards, the only other man to breach 8.30 this season is Poland’s Krystian Zalewski who clinched bronze in Kaunas.

Field events

German shot putter David Storl.

Former European junior high jump champion, Sergey Mudrov of Russia, also knows this track after competing in the Golden Spike. His best and continental age-group leading height stems from Yerino at the beginning of June where he cleared 2.27. Ukraine’s Bohdan Bondarenko has been rounding into shape in a timely fashion, his season best of 2.26 coming at the beginning of this month. Up to third on the rankings is Italy’s Marco Fassinotti who was sixth in Kaunas but must be eyeing a medal here. Jaroslav Rutkowski of Poland, David Smith of Great Britain and Miguel Angel Sanchez of Spain could all reasonably be expected to be in the medal hunt.

Ralph Holzdeppe is a seasoned international, having competed at the Beijing Olympics where he finished eighth. The defending pole vault champion, Holzdeppe is firm favourite to retain his title here and is accompanied by Karsten Dilla. Pawel Wojciechowski of Poland and Dmitriy Zheliabin of Russia are likely to be in the mix.

The top five Europeans in the long jump field have all cleared eight metres, pride of place going to Russia’s Aleksandr Menkov’s 8.28. The only athlete to get close is Spain’s Eusebio Caceres with his 8.23. Alyn Camara of Germany, Marcos Chuva of Portugal and Sergey Polyanskiy of Russia have all cleared the 8m-mark this year.

One of the undoubted stars of the championships, France’s Teddy Tamgho, must have the triple jump championship best performance of 17.57 from 2003 reasonably in his sights.   Yuriy Kovalyov, Aleksey Fyodorov of Russia and Sheryf El-Sheryf of Ukraine could all capitalise if the Frenchman has an off-day. But despite his modest form so far, no one should underestimate Italy’s defending champion, Daniele Greco. Tamgho has entered for both the triple jump and long jump events. 

Germany’s David Storl has come alight this year, clinching European indoor silver and setting an excellent 21.03 best outdoors. No one else has gone over 20m, but Marin Premeru of Croatia and Martin Stasek of the Czech Republic have both easily cleared 19m. Unusually, the Discus rankings are headed by two Britons, Brett Morse and Lawrence Okoye. But Germany is lining up to deny them in the person of Christoph Harting, Gordon Wolf and Daniel Jasinski. The Hammer has a more traditional look to it, led by Belarus’ Siarhei Kalamoets and Poland’s Pawel Fajdek. But Spain’s Javier Cienfuegos and Norway’s Eivind Henrikson have both set national age-group records this year, with the Norwegian’s 74.59 an outright record. In the Javelin, Russia’s Dmitriy Tarabin has moved into the big league when he threw 85.10 last month. But Fatih Avan of Turkey is not far behind with his Turkish record of 84.69. Germany’s Till Wöschler and Ukraine’s Dmytro Kosinskyy are both in form.

Combined events

World junior gold medallist from 2008, Jan Felix Knobel of Germany, is the only entrant over 8000 points in the Decathlon. Fifth in Götzis, Knobel has amassed 10 personal bests so far this season and must be firm favourite to collect gold. Thomas Van Der Plaetsen of Belgium is approaching the 8000-mark and the Czech Republic’s Adam Helcelet won his national title at the end of May. A frustrating fourth last time round, Belarus’ Edouard Mikhan has no mark this season but is clearly a danger.

20km walk

The Russian school of walking will be well represented by Piotr Bogatyrev and Denis Strelkov, both men with bests of just over 1hr20min. Together with Valeriy Filipchuk they make a formidable trio that Dawid Wolski of Poland will do well to separate.

European Athletics (EAA) – News