2023 EC Youth – Jastrzab, Benko and Hjalmarstrom Take 10 Ball Golds

THERE WERE THREE more gold medals determined at the 2023 Dynamic Billard European Youth Pool Championships in Podčetrtek, Slovenia and Poland, Slovenia and Sweden proved to be the victorious nations. Dominik Jastrzab (POL), Maks Benko (SLO) and Linnea Hjalmarstrom (SWE) were the winners in an evening with plenty of drama that kept a good-sized crowd on the edges of their seats. All three will go forward to the World Youth Championships in Klagenfurt, Austria in October.

In the U19 final, Poland’s Dominik Jastrzab was going for his third European Championship gold medal after winning efforts in 2019 and 2021 and he was up against the very strong German Dennis Laszkowski, who was defending the title he won in Petrich last year and had won gold in the adults’ European Championships recently.

Jastrzab got things underway but came with a dry break to get Laszkowski to the table. A relatively easy 5 ball proved problematic for Dennis and Jastrzab took full advantage to open the scoring. After a safety exchange, the Pole seized the initiative to increase his lead. That 2-0 soon became 3-0 as Laszkowski scratched to give his opponent ball-in-hand.

Laszkowski finally got his name on the scoreboard as he took the fourth rack after Jastrzab missed the 7 ball but that small momentum didn’t last long as Dominik won the next rack to put himself in a very strong position at 4-1.

A dry break from Laszkowski did him no favours but the balls fell in his favour and he got to see the table again as they exchanged safeties on the 1 ball. Dennis, who hadn’t looked his best, executed a tidy clearance to get to 2-4.

Jastrzab made the 7 ball on the break and with a clear shot on the 1 ball, looked in a good position but a missed 3 ball, powered down the rail, saw Laszkowski play a safety. A loose one from the Pole left the 3 ball in a potable position and from there Laszkowski made it 3-4.

Dennis took control of the table in the next following two balls off the break. Some good safeties always kept him ahead and eventually he won the rack to level it up. Jastrzab was feeling the heat but got his nose in front in the next as he ran out following a weak safety from his opponent.

A mistake in the next from Jastrzab left the 2 ball on for Dennis and he slotted it home and from there he ran out to level it up again at 5-5. A ball on the break from Jastrzab put him in control. It was a nervy rack but he kept himself together very well to reach the hill at 6-5.

Laszkowski was making his final break of the match and he needed a good one. Unfortunately, the cueball flew into the middle bag to gift Jastrzab a golden chance to close it out. The problem ball was the orange 5 and he snookered himself behind the 6 ball as he tried to dislodge it.

Finally, Jastrzab missed the 5 ball, leaving it hanging and Laszkowski looked all set for hill-hill. He overran the cue ball, though, moving to the 10 ball and leaving it millimetres away. His attempt to separate them left the 10 ball hovering over the top left pocket, and Jastrzab stepped up to punch it in and claim the gold medal.

Commented Jastrzab, “For me this title means a lot as last year was a disaster for me and after that I really tried to train a lot and give my best game for this year and finally that happened and I’m really happy.

“Dennis is a great player and he can run three, four or five racks in a row so of course, I have to be present and aware. I know his best game is crazy so I had to try and be better than him and that happened. He is like a beast but last year he played with me a few times and beat me so this was sweet. I wanted to be here and I wanted to win.”

U19 Medals
Gold: Dominik Jastrzab (POL)
Silver: Dennis Laszkowski (GER)
Bronze: Karl Gnadeberg (EST) & Pawel Boguszewski (POL)

Maks Benko thrilled an enthusiastic home crowd as he took the gold medal in a thrilling match-up with Germany’s Felix Vogel that went down to the final rack in the U17 division. Vogel, the more experienced player, was defending the title he won in Bulgaria last year, an event in which Benko had claimed a bronze.

A year down the line and some experience under his belt saw Benko survive a pulsating match in which he had led 3 1, 4-3 and 5-4. Vogel though showed a lot of character to battle on a stay in the match but in the end, it was Benko who prevailed in a nerve-wracking final game.

Benko claimed the first-ever gold medal for Slovenia at the European Youth Pool Championships and understandably was exhausted at the conclusion. All he could say was, “That was a tough match, a really tough match. My parents will be drinking champagne tonight I’m sure, but I’m going to prepare myself and try and take the 8 ball and 9 ball.”

U17 Medals
Gold: Maks Benko (SLO)
Silver: Felix Vogel (GER)
Bronze: Maj Badovinac (SLO) & Ivan Rudenko (UKR)

The first gold medal for the girls went to Sweden’s Linea Hjalmarstrom who defeated Romina Lenk (Germany) 5-2. The Swede was always in the ascendancy as she led from the start before Lenk squared the match at 2-2. That was to be the German’s last contribution as Hjalmarstrom took the next three racks for the victory.

Commented Linnea, “It’s a surreal feeling and I can’t really believe it. I’ve worked really hard for this, the past year and it’s finally happening. This was my goal to win the 10 ball and I’m really excited. In the beginning I found my game really quickly and I didn’t really miss much. My goal was to qualify for the Junior World Championships in Klagenfurt so I’m looking for a medal there. This is just a dream come true!”

Girls Medals
Gold: Linnea Hjalmarstrom (SWE)
Silver: Romina Lenk (GER)
Bronze: Jolien Schuurman (NED) & Alara Ghaffari (TNC)