On Saturday, at the Plus Bowling Center in the Austrian capital Vienna, 72 European youth bowlers stood in a fight for the European Youth Championships medals at the Girls Singles event.
Four players advanced to the semi-finals after six qualification games.
Doubles bronze medalist Tiiamari Laukkanen of Finland made another strong performance today, collecting 1271 pins to claim first position in the qualification and a sport in the Singles semi-finals. Sweden's Elissa Mehmet finished second with 1224, Croatia's Vivian Banjac third with 1217, securing Croatia's first medal in EYC 2023, and Julie Perrier of France took the remaining spot in the semi-finals with 1203 after a strong finish in a sixth qualification game with a score of 233, which was enough to surpass her opponents by seven pins.
Although Tiiamari Laukkanen performed well at the qualification, 'Les Blues' Julie Perrier made quite a surprise, defeating her opponent 232-187, keeping a chance to earn the first gold medal of EYC 2023 for France.
In another semi-final, Sweden's Elissa Mehmet overcame Vivian Banjac of Croatia in a high-scoring duel with a final result of 237-202.
In the final game, Julie Perrier performed strongly once again. Eighteen y.o. scored over 200, and it was more than enough to claim victory against Sweden's Elissa Mehmet 204-178 and France's first EYC 2023 gold medal.
Gold medal - Julie Perrier (France)
Silver medal - Elissa Mehmet (Sweden)
Bronze medals - Tiiamari Laukkanen (Finland) | Vivian Banjac (Croatia)
The ending of the Singles qualification also meant the conclusion of the Girls All-Event qualification. Finland's Tiiamari Laukkanen won gold, Kajsa Samuelsson of Sweden was awarded a silver medal and her compatriot Elissa Mehmet with a bronze medal.
Twenty-four best performers after eighteen qualification games advanced to the Masters category. Here are the top 8 performers after the qualification in the Girls All-Event. These eight players will skip the first step of the Masters event.
Full standings can be found here.
All championship activities will be held from the 2nd of April to the 9th of April 2023. A total of 30 European bowling federations and 168 youth athletes participate in the event.
