Countdown to Pombal: Last year’s top two set for Clash of the Clubs rematch
16 September 2024

One of the most anticipated sub-plots at next week’s European Athletics’ Dynamic New Athletics (DNA) U20 Clubs, the Clash of the Clubs III, in the Portuguese city of Pombal will be the face off between the 2023 second placers Sparta Atletik & Løb of Denmark and the defending champions Club Atletismo Playas de Castellón from Spain.

Considered by far the strongest athletics clubs in their respective countries, the two share an affinity for the DNA concept as well as an ambition for success at the European level, which was played out dramatically by their U20 squads last year in Rome.

Seemingly in control of the A Final, Sparta had gathered enough points in the first 11 disciplines to give its mixed-gender team for the deciding relay, the Hunt, a 3.30 second head start over Playas, which at that point was in third place.

On the 800m anchor leg, however, Playas’ star Ronaldo Olivo, a 1:45 performer, overtook the team in second, Fiamme Gialle-Bracco Atletica from Italy, and then chased down Sparta’s Luis Felipe Maillet with 150 metres to go, enabling the Spanish club to nab the day’s glory.

The scenes of post-race jubilation by the three teams that made the final podium, with the athletes from Playas tossing Olivo into the air, were reminiscent of an international football tournament and demonstrated what doing well in the event meant to the young athletes and their clubs.

In Pombal next week, the rivalry will be renewed in the four-match tournament but, as is normal in age-group competitions, the team rosters will be different.

To get an idea of how things might play out, we asked leaders from both clubs for their assessments of their teams’ prospects as well as their feelings about DNA itself.

Sparta Atletik & Løb

Sparta’s Venezuelan-born coach Diego Marcano, who will lead his club’s U20 team for the third time, says he is a big fan of both the DNA concept and the Clash of the Clubs event.

“DNA is a new and innovative way to do athletics that appeals in many ways to young people and the format is very interesting as an international championships for clubs like Sparta.”

Marcano recalled that he did not know what to expect when the Sparta team travelled to the first Clash of the Clubs in Castellon back in 2022 and admits he was shocked by how much everyone, the young athletes and the coaches, enjoyed the experience.

“I knew right away that I wanted to be the team leader again and since then the event has been a big motivation inside our club. We all want to be the best in Europe and I am constantly being asked: Are we going this year? Who will be on the team?”

“Last year we went to Rome with the experience of the format from Castellon, ready to do battle, and we are proud of our second place.”

Looking forward to this year’s edition, Marcano said it is very difficult to know the strength of the other clubs but it is only natural for Sparta to want to be among the top teams again.

“We will have a relatively young team and our aim is simply for each athlete to do their best and help put us in a position to make the podium. If we achieve that anything can happen in the Hunt.”

Fresh off competing in this year’s World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima, Peru, Sparta’s 2023 European Youth Olympic Festival gold medallist in the 400m hurdles, 18 year-old Joel Frederik Von D’Ahé, who was on the team for both of the first two editions of the Clash of the Clubs, says he has been anticipating the trip to Pombal since the club announced it would be taking part again this year.

“DNA is a fun concept and the event is a fun way to finish the season. It brings people together as everyone is competing for everyone else on the team, which is unusual in our sport, and over the weekend you get to know a lot of athletes from the other clubs and countries,” he said.

In addition to Von D’Ahé, whose best of 51.80 is more than two seconds faster than any other 400m hurdler entered in Pombal, two sprinters from the club have the fastest personal best of all the athletes entered in their events and are expected to score big points for Sparta.

On the women’s side is 17 year-old Amaja Kruse Jørgensen, who placed third in the 100m in the Danish U23 Championships and has a best of 11.91.

On the men’s side is Sophus Ramsgaard Jensen, 18, who has a best 200m time of 21.18 and was a member of the 4x100m team that placed fourth for Denmark at the championships in Lima.

Looking to the future, Marcano hopes that other Danish clubs will soon embrace DNA and said that the national federation, the Dansk Atletik Forbund, is exploring the idea.

“The federation’s calendar coordinator, who is also a junior sprints coach, is planning to travel with our team to Pombal to see the event for herself and then consider how DNA could be integrated into the national competition programme.”

“If that happens I think DNA will be particularly good for motivating athletes in the smaller clubs as it allows their teams to compete on a more equal footing with big membership clubs like ours.”

Club Atletismo Playas de Castellón

Spain has been one of the main drivers of DNA since the beginning of the project, its national teams having won the first senior international indoor showcase event in Glasgow in 2021 and placed third in last year’s U20 international indoor showcase event in Madrid.

For its part, Playas de Castellón has been a key player on both the domestic and international levels.

In 2021 the club hosted, and won, the Spanish national clubs DNA championships, the first-ever DNA indoor event, which has become an annual fixture on the country’s calendar.

Playas also hosted the first Clash of the Clubs U20 international in 2022 and, with the help of Ronaldo Olivo’s great anchor leg in the Hunt, it was able to win the overall title at second edition in Rome last year.

The interest of the Spanish athletics federation (Real Federación Española de Atletismo) in DNA was underlined by its on-going Jungle Athletics project, partially funded by a grant from the European Union, which included developing the concept for use by school-aged athletes.

Playas jumps coach and team leader Claudio Veneciano says DNA has been well received by younger athletes and the Clash of the Clubs is an opportunity for his historically strong club to add to its collection of European club championships.

“It’s a fantastic experience for them. They like meeting the athletes from the other clubs, they like going on the field with their smartphones, but most of all they like being together as part of a team, where everyone matters to the final result.”

Playas athletes to watch for on the women’s side include 18 year-old national U20 100m hurdles champion Elsa Badal, whose personal best of 13.68 is the fastest of all the entries and 19 year-old middle distance runner Carla Jimenez, who will compete in the 800m, where her 2:10.26 best is the second fastest of those entered.

Veneciano also mentioned 19 year-old sprinter Inéz Gómez, whose 100m personal best of 12.02 is the third fastest of the entries for Pombal.

On the men’s side is 16 year-old Anthony Yunier Perez who was a finalist in this year’s European Athletics U18 Championships in Banská Bystrica, Czechia, in both the long jump and 110m hurdles. In Pombal he will do the long jump where his best of 7.53m ranks him second among the entries.

Veneciano says that even though Olivo will not be present this year, his club hopes to defend the title it won in Rome. But he acknowledges that coming out on top will be a difficult task.

“You can never really tell the strength of the other clubs going into the event, but we are sure that Sparta and maybe others will be tough.”