Curious scenes at EM
Shot putter inspires as a hurdle “sprinter”
Jun 25, 2023 at 8:32 am
The Belgian track and field athletes have to cope with a bitter failure at the European Team Championships in Poland. The U20 European champion Anne Zagre cannot compete in the hurdles. Shot putter Jolien Boumkwo doesn’t want to let her team down and jumps in. She doesn’t stand a chance.
Shot putter Jolien Boumkwo caused enthusiasm at the European Team Championships in Chorzow, Poland, with a hopeless trip to the hurdles. The Belgian finished a wide margin in last place in the 100m in 32.81 seconds, but secured her team two points after Switzerland’s Ditaji Kambundji was disqualified. Spain’s Teresa Errandonea won the race in 13.22 seconds.
Anne Zagre was supposed to start for Poland, but the former U20 European champion had to sit out injured. Because no replacement was available, Boumkwo jumped in spontaneously, leisurely climbed over the hurdles – and was celebrated by the fans. “My team is the most important thing for me,” said the 29-year-old Boumkwo, who started with long training pants and clearly towered over her competitors: “I couldn’t let us lose a point. There was no risk for me , if I would take it easy.”
Abuaku has to abandon his race
Boumkwo, who is also the Belgian hammer throw champion, finished seventh in the shot put on Friday. Despite their commitment, Belgium are bottom of the 16 teams after 25 of 37 competitions and fear relegation to the second division. The team of the German Athletics Association (DLV) has meanwhile improved from fifth to third place. With 256.5 points, however, the selection is well behind leaders Italy (294), but still close to host Poland (258.5). Great Britain (243.5) dropped to fourth due to a relay disqualification.
Carolina Krafzik in 54.47 seconds over 400 meter hurdles and the men’s relay over 4×100 meter hurdles in 38.34 seconds ensured German victories on Saturday. On Friday, Kristin Pudenz, who came second at the European Championships, clearly won the discus competition with 66.84 meters. Joshua Abuaku, on the other hand, missed important points because he had to end the race over 400 meters hurdles shortly after the start. “It didn’t feel good. If I had gone through with it, something would definitely have broken,” said the 26-year-old on ZDF.
Germany has won the European Team Championships three times so far. 2009 at the premiere as well as 2014 and most recently 2017. The fourth success was not very realistic even before the start. “A win will be a challenge,” said the new DLV sports director Jörg Bügner, “but we will do everything we can to do as well as possible and to build on the successes of previous years. Our goal is a podium finish.” At least that is within reach after two days.