Serbian star Vilagos targets more Under-20 success

Eighteen-year-old World Athletics Under-20 javelin champion Adriana Vilagos is not yet done with the junior ranks and is keen to make more history before fully switching to the senior ranks.

She has already proven to be good enough for the senior category, claimed silver at the senior European Championships in Munich this year, but she remains eligible for the age group in 2023, targeting more glory at the European championships.

The 18-year-old learned her craft by watching videos of the sport’s greats and 2022 was the year that Vilagos went up against, and beat, some of those athletes on the major stage.

Her main goal might have been the World Athletics U-20 Championships in Cali, but she says it was the European Championships that provided the biggest surprise, and her standout moment, in a year that has been capped by her receiving the Rising Star honour at the World Athletics Awards 2022.

“I am very happy and honoured that they think I deserve this year’s award. It’s huge recognition,” said Vilagos. “Defending my world U-20 title in Colombia was my main goal, but winning a medal at the European Championships was the biggest surprise. It was a good year, and this award crowns it.”

From March to September, Vilagos lined up in 16 competitions and finished in the top three in 15 of them. She added more than a meter to her PB, breaking the European U-20 record with a 63.52m throw, and consistently surpassed 60 meters.

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In Cali, a year on from her gold medal win as a 17-year-old in Nairobi in 2021, she dominated. Surpassing 60 meters with four of her five valid attempts in the final, she saved her best for last and achieved a championship record of 63.52m, also a European U20 record that moved her to third on the world U20 all-time list.

The performance saw Vilagos become the first woman since former world record-holder Osleidys Menendez to win back-to-back world U-20 javelin titles.

Vilagos grew up in Mali Idos in the north of Serbia, where she played handball. A teacher noticed her talent for throwing and entered her into a vortex competition, where the implement is a small rocket-shaped missile. She won.

Guided by her mother Derdi, a handball coach and former player, Vilagos continued to win.

“We started to learn on the internet how real vortex throwers were throwing,” explained Derdi, who works as a public prosecutor. “She did 79 meters with the vortex but competitions only go up to the age of 13 years. Then we really started to think that she could learn to be a javelin thrower in future.”

They returned to YouTube as an education tool.

“We would sit in front of a laptop or the TV and watch mostly Jan Zelezny’s throws and training videos, to study technique,” said Vilagos. “We spent hours and hours watching, and then we would go out to the field and would try it. If it was good, we left, and if it wasn’t, then we would change something, watch other videos and try another technique.”

“It paid off,” added Derdi. “We learned and learned, and here we are.”

Additional reporting by world athletics