On Friday and Saturday, the Boys & Girls Team events took off. Team events are famous for their atmosphere, and the crowd was absolutely wild today at the Tali Bowling Center in the Finland's capital Helsinki.
Four teams of four bowlers advanced to the semi-finals after the two three-game qualification blocks.
In the Girls event, the Finns performed best all the way through two blocks of qualification. Stella Lökfors, Emma Palermaa, Tiiamari Laukkanen & Julia Vesanen finished in the top spot with 5135 total pinfall. The Girls Team of Denmark went second with 5074 pinfall, Ireland finished third with 4896, and Germany took the last spot with 4780.
In the semi-finals, qualification leaders proved to be better in the competition this year. Finland overcame Germany 870-827, while Denmark left no chances for Ireland 871-762.
In a gold match, Finns took an early lead and did not look back. Stella Lökfors, Emma Palermaa, Tiiamari Laukkanen & Julia Vesanen clinched the final game with a massive 977-861 win against Denmark. 977 marked the new European Girls single game record.
Gold medals - Finland
Silver medals - Denmark
Bronze medals - Germany & Ireland
In the Boys event, Czech Republic made a little surprise, finishing first at the qualification. David Mojka, Jakub Sedláček, Jaroslav Zapletal & Ondrej Prekop collected 5140 total, while Finland finished second eith 5087. Sweden went third with 5072 total, while Denmark took the remaining spot in the top 4 with 4902.
In the semi-finals, Sweden met Finland, and the Czech Republic stood against Denmark.
Despite the Finland's fan base rooting for their national team, Swedes found strenght in their team efforts to overcome Finland 907-872. In the other semi-final game Czechs overcame the Great Danes by mare three pins (825-822).
In a Boys Team gold match, Sweden proved to be better this time. Albin Gullstrand, Robin Noberg, Emil Svensson, andCarl Eklund took an early lead against Czechs and kept the advantage until the last shot of the game. Swedes won 872-773 and were awarded gold medals.
Gold medals - Sweden
Silver medals - Czech Republic
Bronze medals - Denmark and Finland
The end of the Team event also marked the end of the qualification of the EYC 2024. Sixteen best performers advanced to the next round of the Masters category, while tree best athletes in both Boys and Girls categories were awarded with the All-Event medals. Here are the top 8 performers after the qualification in the Girls & Boys All-Event.
Full standings of the EYC 2024 can be found here.
All EYC 2024 activities will be held from the 25th of March to the 1st of April 2024. A total of 28 European bowling federations and 168 youth athletes participate in the event this year.
