The 23-year-old secured the first senior championship medal of her career with a commanding 76.28-metre throw at the 2026 European Athletics Championships.
Finland’s Silja Kosonen has won the women’s hammer throw title at the 2026 European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, producing a decisive 76.28-metre effort at the Alexander Stadium. The 23-year-old recorded the winning distance in the third round of the final on 12 August. It remained beyond the reach of her rivals and earned Finland its first medal of the championships. Italy’s defending European champion Sara Fantini took silver with 74.35 metres, while Norway’s Beatrice Nedberge Llano completed a strong Nordic presence on the podium by claiming bronze with 72.88 metres. Poland’s three-time Olympic champion Anita Włodarczyk finished fourth with 72.37 metres.
From repeated near misses to European champion
The Birmingham victory represented an important breakthrough for Kosonen, who had repeatedly finished close to the podium at senior international championships. She placed fourth at the 2024 European Championships in Rome, where Fantini won the title, before again narrowly missing a medal at the Paris Olympics later that summer. Kosonen finished fifth in the Olympic final with 74.04 metres, only 23 centimetres behind bronze medallist Zhao Jie of China. Another fourth place followed at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, where Kosonen threw 75.28 metres. Although those results had already established her among the leading hammer throwers in the world, a senior medal continued to elude her. That wait ended emphatically in Birmingham.
A convincing victory at Alexander Stadium
Fantini made a strong beginning to the competition, but Kosonen took control with her third-round throw. Her winning margin of 1.93 metres underlined the authority of her performance. The Finnish athlete remained composed throughout the closing rounds as Fantini attempted to defend the European crown she had won in Rome two years earlier. Kosonen then celebrated once the Italian’s final attempt confirmed the result. The medal ceremony carried additional emotional significance. Finnish supporters inside Alexander Stadium joined in the national anthem as Kosonen received the first major senior medal of her career. “It meant a lot. We have worked for this,” she said, paying tribute to the Finnish fans who had supported her in Birmingham.
A career developed in Raisio
Born in December 2002, Kosonen began hammer throwing at the age of eight and has continued to build her career in Raisio, in south-western Finland. Her international potential became clear at junior level. In 2021, she won both the European Under-20 and World Under-20 titles, setting a world under-20 record with the lighter junior hammer. Kosonen has worked with coach Jani Pihkanen since she was 15. More recently, speed specialist Mika Vakkuri joined her coaching team, allowing Kosonen to place greater emphasis on speed training as a separate part of her programme. The long-term work has helped transform a highly successful junior athlete into a senior European champion.
A Nordic double on the podium
Kosonen’s gold was accompanied by a notable achievement for Norwegian athletics. Beatrice Nedberge Llano’s bronze gave the Nordic countries two of the three medals in the event. Llano’s 72.88-metre throw carried her onto a major senior podium, finishing ahead of one of the greatest hammer throwers in history, Włodarczyk. The Norwegian’s performance added another Nordic success to a Birmingham championship already marked by several strong results from athletes across the region. For Finland, however, the evening belonged to Kosonen. After years of finishing just outside the medals, she left Birmingham not simply as a contender, but as the new European champion.
Final result – women’s hammer throw
1. Silja Kosonen, Finland — 76.28m
2. Sara Fantini, Italy — 74.35m
3. Beatrice Nedberge Llano, Norway — 72.88m
Suggested Online Sources
European-athletics.com
Helsinkitimes.fi
Athleticsweekly.com
