by Alfonz Juck
Jakub Ingebrigtsen taking a break after his 5000m ER, photo by Diamond League AG
The European Athletics Championships will have over 600 athletes from 29 countries and parteners of EA. The meet will be held tomorrow, December 11, 2021, in Dublin, Ireland. We will rely on European Athletics’ fine coverage to cover the event.
The following updates are from our friends in Central Europa, Alfons Juck and his team (Paul Halford and Stephen Mills) at EME News.
Short previews
Senior men: Olympic 1500m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen steps up after four consecutive junior wins straight into the senior race, having bypassed the under-23s. The 21-year-old Norwegian has run just once before over 10km or further, when he clocked 27:54 on the road. France’s Jimmy Gressier is another moving up the age groups, having won the under-23 title the last three occasions. Norway’s Zerei Kbrom makes his debut in the event having transferred from Eritrea with a 10km road PB of 27:39. Others to watch will be Turkey’s Aras Kaya, Britain’s Andrew Butchart, Italy’s Yemaneberhan Crippa, Switzerland’s Julian Wanders, and Spain’s Adel Mechaal and Ayad Lamdassem.
Senior women: Yasemin Can of Turkey will challenge for a fifth successive title, hoping to be only the second behind Sergey Lebid to do so. Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen, twice a junior winner and second under-23 in 2017, is back at the event for the first time in four years. Norway’s former European junior champion Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal is hoping for the right colour this time after five silver or bronze medals in the senior race. Ireland’s twice winner Fionnuala McCormack will make a record-extending 17th appearance after her recent 2:23 marathon breakthrough. Sweden’s Samrawit Mengsteab and Merah Bahta, Britain’s Jess Judd, Denmark’s Anna Emilie Moller and Netherlands’ Jip Vastenburg will also be in the hunt for medals.
Under-23 men: France’s Florian Le Pallac and Valentin Gondouin will look to take over from team-mate Gressier. Spain’s Eduardo Menacho and Andorra’s Nahuel Carabana are among the other favourites.
Under-23 women: Twice junior European champion Nadia Battocletti will be a strong hope for Italy here. Slovenia’s Klara Lukan, Portugal’s Mariana Machado and Ireland’s Sarah Healy are other medal contenders.
Under-20 men: Home hopes lie with Nick Griggs, the European U20 3000m champion. Denmark’s Joel Ibler Lilleso is European junior 5000m champion so will be another to challenge. Spain’s Pol Oriach, who won the steeplechase at the Europeans, and Norway’s Abdullahi Dahir Rabi will also hope to be in among the leaders.
Under-20 women: Norway, Finland or Spain. This countries are sending reigning European U20 champions from Tallinn in summer (Ostgard, Mononen, Dominguez). Dark horses Greta Varga from Hungary and Briton Megan Keith.
Mixed relay: Britain will try to defend their title with Alexandra Bell the returning team member from 2019. Spain, with Esther Guerrero and Victor Ruiz in their team, will be in the hunt. Belarus will be looking to step up from silver two years ago, led by trials winner Volha Nemahai on the women’s side.
