Swedish discus thrower Jakob Gardenkrans (© Getty Images)
With the four longest throws in the world this year by an U20 athlete, Germany’s Clemens Prufer appears to have the gold medal at his mercy.
The 18-year-old leads his closest challenger in Bydgoszcz by almost three metres on season’s bests, having unleashed at outstanding series at the Werfercup meeting in Wiesbaden earlier this year, hurling the 1.75kg implement beyond 63 metres on four occasions. The biggest of those, 66.27m, still stands as the world-leading mark and Prufer confirmed his readiness for Bydgoszcz by throwing 63.00m in Potsdam last week.
Prufer will be bidding to go one better than his brother, Henning, who took three silver medals at global age-group championships between 2013 and 2014.
If he is to be defeated, then German teammate Merten Howe appears most likely to cause an upset. Howe has had 10 throws beyond 60 metres this year and is a consistent performer, his best effort the 63.44m lifetime best he threw to finish second to Prufer in Wiesbaden in May.
Sweden’s Jakob Gardenkrans made a big breakthrough this year, throwing a national U20 record of 62.58m in Bottynard last month. Though he has yet to approach that in three competitions since – his best effort being 58.07m – he is capable of challenging the German duo if reproducing his best form in Bydgoszcz.
Like Prufer, Gardenkrans has an older sibling who has competed on the global stage, his brother Victor having represented Sweden at the 2011 World Youth Championships and 2012 and 2014 World Junior Championships.
An intriguing entrant here is Poland’s Konrad Bukowiecki, the world indoor U20 shot put record-holder who is no slouch when it comes to his secondary event, the discus. Though he has competed sparingly in this event in 2016, Bukowiecki threw a PB of 62.20m in Bialystok last month.
He tasted defeat in the discus at the Polish U20 championships behind Oskar Stachnik, who threw 57.67m to take the title. Stachnik has a best of 61.06m and, along with Bukowiecki, should make a bold bid to get among the medals and give the Polish fans reason to celebrate.
Qatar’s Mohamed Ibrahim Moaaz is another likely to be in contention, the 17-year-old holding a best of 62.13m this year. Stefan Mura of Moldova (61.83m), Connor Bandel of the US (61.75m) and Wout Zijlstra of the Netherlands (60.76) all look capable of taking a minor medal.
Cathal Dennehy for the IAAF
