Day five of the EYOF Maribor 2023 delivered yet more wonderful sporting action with Europe’s best young athletes showcasing their talents across eight exciting disciplines.
Italy, who top the medal table by seven gold medals at the end of today’s action had another strong day in the gymnastics. Sara Caputo won her third and fourth medals of the Festival with gold in the vault and silver in the uneven bars. Fellow Italian Tommaso Brugnami won gold in the boys’ floor exercise adding to his previous gold and silver medals. In the girls’ uneven bars Helen Kevric (GER) also won her fourth medal of the Festival, this time going one better than the previous three silvers already achieved, as she took top spot with a gold medal.
A pair of gold medals also went to Armenia with Mamikon Khachatryan showing his speed and agility on the pommel horse and Hamlet Manukyan his strength on the rings.
The atmosphere in Leon Štukelj Square in the heart of the city was electric for the boys’ and girls’ 3×3 basketball finals. The girls’ final saw Poland hold off Germany to take the victory 17 points to 15 and the boys’ game was equally as tense as the girls’ but this time Germany battled to take victory over Serbia winning 17 points to 16.
The fifth day of competition also saw the individual judo medals decided. In the girls’ -70kg, Great Britain’s Julie Marczak grappled her way to victory over Ukrainian Anna Oliintk-Korniiko and in the over 70kg Helene Schrattenholzer (AUT) beat Emma Aktas (EST). In the boys’ -90kg Azerbaijan’s Aslan Kotsoev overcame Georgia’s Saba Gvelesiani and in the over 90kg Türkiye’s Ibrahim Tataroglu saw off Ramazan Ahmadov from Azerbaijan to win gold.
Another thrilling evening at the athletics saw France and Hungary both take two gold medals. France’s two golds came in the boys’ high jump with Elijah Pasquier soaring to 2.12 metres, three centimetres higher than his nearest rival and Laura Montauban managed to dip at the right moment to win a very tight finish in the girls’ 100m hurdles. The Hungarian duo taking top honours were Armin Szabados in the boys’ hammer throw and Alexandra Kovacs in the 5km walk, just edging out Spain’s Julia Suarez.
Italy added another gold to their ever-growing tally in the girls’ triple jump with Erika Saraceni leaping 13 centimetres further than her nearest rival. The other gold medals went to Joel Von De Ahé (DEN) winning the boys’ 400m hurdles, Aldin Catovic (SRB) in the boys’ 3000m and Vita Barbic of Croatia in the girls’ javelin.
In the final evening of the swimming at the Pristan Swimming Centre it was Great Britain’s evening as they won four gold and two silver medals. The gold medals came for Amelie Blocksidge in the 800m freestyle, Phoebe Cooper in the 200m medley, Theodora Taylor in the 50m freestyle and Joshua Inglis in the 100m breaststroke.
Tomorrow will see the final day of competition featuring athletics, gymnastics, judo handball, tennis and volleyball before the Closing Ceremony at the stunning Maribor Castle.
