Some of the leading lights from Europe’s smaller nations will be in focus at the European Challenger Championships which takes place in the Stade Louis II in Monaco on Saturday (30).
The event will be streamed live on the European Athletics YouTube channel from 1.00pm CEST on Saturday without any restrictions and will be accompanied by English-language commentary.
Live results can be found here.
Who’s competing?
Representatives from 17 of the European Athletics Member Federations will take part in the European Challenger Championships, making it one of the most prestigious international competitions for smaller nations.
One of the most accomplished athletes who is due to compete is high jumper Marija Vukovic who made history by winning Montenegro’s first ever medal at the European Athletics Championships in Munich 2022 with silver behind Yaroslava Mahuchikh.
And at 34, Vukovic is jumping as well as ever. She cleared a season’s best of 1.94m for victory in Rehlingen on Sunday evening before taking three close attempts at 1.96m and then a national record height of 1.98m.
Montenegro will also have high hopes in the women’s javelin for Marija Bogavac who was a surprise sixth at the European Throwing Cup in Nicosia with 56.32m, breaking her national record which she had set 10 years prior when she was still just a teenager.
On the track, Andorra’s Pol Moya will be looking to repeat the 800/1500m middle distance double which he achieved at the Games of the Small States of Europe last summer. The entry-list for the 1500m also includes 15-year-old Raphael Lough, the son of former world marathon record-holder Paula Radcliffe and 1995 world 1500m finalist Gary, who is running for hosts Monaco.
Fellow long-time Andorran international Nahuel Carabana starts as the big favourite in the 5000m fresh from setting a national record of 28:47.06 at the European 10,000m Cup in La Spezia.
Cyprus’ Olivia Fotopoulou, who won a 100/200m double at the Games of the Small States of Europe last year, will be focusing solely on the 200m which opens up the possibility of a rare victory for San Marino in the women’s 100m. Multiple national record-holder Alessandra Gasparelli who has improved to 7.30 in the 60m and 11.42 in the 100m this year.
Fotopoulou’s twin sister Filippa will also be in action on Saturday in the long jump and starts as the resounding favourite by virtue of a recent season’s best of 6.78m, just one centimetre shy of her lifetime best and two centimetres shy of the Cypriot record which had stood since 1985.
The most competitive event of the weekend is shaping up to be the men’s shot put which features three throwers with lifetime bests in excess of 20 metres: Georgia’s Giorgi Mujaridze (21.21m PB), Montenegro’s Tomas Durovic (20.60m) and Moldova’s Alexandr Mazur (20.17m).
Other notable entrants across the programme include Moldova’s Andrian Mardare (javelin), Albania’s Franko Burraj (400m), Republic of North Macedonia’s Andreas Trajkovski (long jump) and Luxembourg’s Vera Hoffmann-Bertemes (1500m).