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954 athletes ready to compete in Tallinn
954 athletes from 47 countries confirm final entry to European Junior Championships 2011 in Tallinn, including several junior world champions and junior world record holders.
The largest team will be Germany with 85 athletes, followed by France with 65 athletes, Great Britain with 57 athletes, Spain with 55 athletes, Italy with 53 athletes and Russia with 50 athletes. The hosting nation Estonia will be represented by a team of 27 junior athletes. A total of 678 officials are accompanying the teams.
The list of entries is impressive. Examples include the Swedish pole-vaulter Angelica Bengtsson who has repeatedly taken further the youth world record and surely will not be content with the junior world record for long. Her current personal bests are 4.47 outdoors and 4.63 indoors. Latvian javelin thrower Zigismunds Sirmais conquered the junior world record this April at 84.47 – the record once set by Olympic winner Andreas Thorkildsen. British sprinter Jodie Williams proved at the European Indoor Championships in Paris this year that at aged 17 she can be serious competition to senior athletes – she missed out on a medal by just one hundredth of a second. As current world junior champion in 100m and silver medallist in 200m, Williams is a strong favourite in Tallinn to win both 100m and 200m, where her personal bests are respectively 11.24 and 22.79.
The teams are arriving on Monday and Tuesday and will be preparing for the competition to start on Thursday at the historic Kadriorg Stadium. The opening ceremony will be taking place on Wednesday evening at 9pm at Freedom Square in Tallinn city centre.
