Countdown to Pombal: Returning clubs look for Clash of the Clubs success to grow DNA legacy
18 September 2024

Of the 12 club teams selected by national federations to compete in this week’s European Athletics’ Dynamic New Athletics (DNA) U20 Clubs, the Clash of the Clubs III, seven are returning to the event and five of those will be appearing for a third time, indicating both their strength domestically and their satisfaction with the DNA experience.

Leaders of the repeat participants will be hoping that previous exposure to the format will increase their teams’ chances for success this year in the Portuguese city of Pombal, thereby giving their athletes valuable experience of accomplishment at the international level and raising the profile of their respective clubs.

As the final preparations for the weekend’s four-match tournament take place, we spoke with the team leaders from AK Škoda Plzeň of Czechia, SK Elite Sport from Estonia and Ireland’s Ratoath AC to learn their thoughts on the event and what their clubs’ participation means for the future of DNA in their countries.

AK Škoda Plzeň

Team leader Jiří Kadla expects two talented young combined events specialists to spearhead the performance of Škoda Plzeň, which is hoping to build on its record of reaching the A Finals at both of the previous editions of the Clash of the Clubs, including a 2022 podium place after finishing third in Castellon.

Seventeen year-old Adéla Hanáková, who was the runner up in this year’s Czech U20 Championships heptathlon and competed in that event at the recent World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima, Peru, is entered for her two best disciplines: the high jump, where her personal of 1.79m is the equal top mark of the entries, and the 100m hurdles, where her time of 14.27 is fourth best.

Tomas Järvenen, 18, the decathlon gold medallist in Lima, is also entered in two events: the 110m hurdles, where his 13.61 personal best over the 991cm barriers is the second fastest among the Pombal entrants and the long jump, where his 7.77m PB is the top mark.

Škoda Plzeň also looks to have strong squads for the mixed 4x400m relay and the deciding event, the Hunt, where the 800m anchor leg will be taken by 19 year-old Jiří Špiroch, who improved this year from 1:55 to 1:49.54.

According to Kadla, his team, which was offered the chance to compete in Pombal after winning last year’s Czech U20 team championships for both boys and girls, will be struggling with some injuries after a long summer season but the athletes are determined to perform well.

“We are optimistic and will consider it a success if we make the A Final again,” he said.

Kadla explained that the Czech athletics community is showing interest that Škoda Plzeň has taken part in two European U20 DNA championships and now DNA events organised by the Czech athletic federation are starting to appear on the calendar, especially for younger age groups.

“It is still in the project stage and we need to educate the coaches, who sometimes can be very conservative, but I think the format’s greater focus on the field events is good for the sport and the younger athletes who are not top stars seem to like the team aspects of DNA.”

SK Elite Sport

2000 Olympic decathlon gold medallist, Erki Nool, who founded the SK Elite Sport in 1997 when he was still an active athlete, says he hopes to see his team build on the experience gained last year when the 500-member club became the first to represent Estonia at the Clash of the Clubs.

“Initially I was a little sceptical about the format but I was surprised with the seriousness and team spirit I saw in Rome. All the kids and all the coaches immediately said they want to go back to compete again, so this event has become a big motivation for the club.”

“We don’t have a strong middle-distance tradition in our club or our country, where the focus is normally on the combined events, but we all learned something when we saw how important the running disciplines are for overall success in the DNA competitions.”

“Our coaches have been adapting their training programmes this season but it’s going to take a while to come up to the standard of the top clubs from the rest of Europe and we are thinking positively in terms of how we can do a little bit better than last year.”

Asked for SK Elite athletes to watch in Pombal, Nool highlighted two of the team’s youngest performers: 100m hurdler Marleen Ritari, 17, and high jumper Emma Lotta Jürvetson, 16.

Runner-up at the Estonian U18 championship over 762cm hurdles, Ritari’s best time of 14.24 over the 838cm U20 height barriers (she has done 13.82 with an over-the-limit 2.5 m/sec tailwind) puts her third among the Pombal entries and Jürvetson, this year’s U18 Estonian champion, also ranks third with her PB of 1.71m.

Following SK Elite’s participation in the Clash last year, the Estonian Athletic Association is said to be developing plans to enhance its programme for young athletes by introducing DNA competitions.

Nool said he sees potential for DNA to strengthen club systems by making it possible for smaller clubs to field competitive teams even against the biggest clubs and by pushing coaches to broaden their vision on how they guide their athlete’s choice of event.

“I like the flexibility of DNA and the fact that the disciplines can change from match to match , like they have from Rome last year to Pombal this year, which means clubs that want to succeed cannot focus on a just small number of events.”

Ratoath AC

Ratoath’s Sinéad McGoldrick, who will lead her team to the Clash of the Clubs as she did in 2022 and 2023, says winning the B Final last year in Rome was an exciting experience for the athletes and their supporters.

“It would be great to experience that again and bring home another cup but we are also hoping to go one step further this year and make the A Final.”

Ratoath looks like it will get off to good starts in its matches with a strong mixed 4x400m relay team and McGoldrick expects important contributions from two young sprinters, both of whom have already succeeded in the Clash.

Seventeen year-old Katie Doherty, who placed second in the 100m in the team’s B Final match last year scoring 10 points, has a personal best time of 12.00, which is the second fastest of the entries this year.

Osamudiamen Jesse Osas, 18, Ireland’s U18 record holder over 100m with 10.51, will be appearing in the 200m at the Clash for the third time, having placed fourth in the 2022 B Final as a 16 year-old and gained the full 12 points in last year’s B Final. His PB time of 21.83 ranks him fourth among this year’s entries.

If Ratoath happens to draw a first round match, or ends up in the same final, with Škoda Plzeň, Tara O’Connor, the club’s 16 year-old high jump star, could find herself in one of Pombal’s more fascinating match-ups.

Her personal best of 1.79m, which she has cleared on two occasions this year, exactly equals Adéla Hanáková’s mark as the best of the tournament’s entries.

Adding a layer of tactical intrigue, and stress, would be the head-to-head conduct of the discipline in DNA matches, where the jumpers must pick a height for a single, make or break attempt without knowing the height chosen by their competitor.

Imagine the situation. Do you select a height close to your best and risk a failure or do you go for a height you know you can make easily and risk your opponent, who performs at your same level, clearing something higher?

Add SK Elite’s Emma Lotta Jürvetson, with the third best PB in the field, to the competition mix and things could get very interesting indeed.

As was the case in previous years, McGoldrick expects a contingent of parents, coaches and athletes whose events are not part this year’s competition to support the team by travelling to Pombal.

“Word has got around about the nice time together everyone enjoyed on the first two trips so the interest in the trip is there,” she said, “and among the athletes it is even greater.”

“The younger kids in our club, 13 or 14 years old, are already talking about what they have to do the make the team in the future.”

McGoldrick added that through content on Ratoath’s website and social media accounts athletes at other clubs in Ireland are becoming aware of her club’s participation and success in the Clash and interest in DNA is growing.

“Ireland’s domestic calendar is so packed that integrating DNA competitions will be a challenge but the emphasis on the team is in line with our club’s philosophy for keeping young athletes in the sport so I will be starting conversations to see what can be done.”