by Larry Eder
This is the event-by-event coverage of the 2023 European Indoor Athletics Championships for Friday, March 3, 2023!
Euro Indoors, Day 1, Session 2!
Women’s 60-meter semi-finals
Semi-Final 1, Ewa Swoboda, POL won semi 1, going away in 7.10. Rani Rosius, BEL, ran 7.16 PB for second, both move to final, Dilme Voroo, EST, 7.29 NR in third. Asha Philip, GBR, in sixth, in 7.35.
Semi 2, Daryll Neita, GBR ran 7.07! She looked amazing, as Alexand Burghardt, GER, in 7.23, bot move to final, Sarah Atcho, SUI, ran 7.26 for 3rd, waiting on semi 3 to see if she makes it!
Semi 3, Wow! Mujinga Kambundji, SUI, runs 7.05 to win semi 3! Delphine Nkansa, BEL, was 2nd in 7.22! Jael Bestue, EST, 7.23, Arialis Martinez, POR, 7.24 all move to final!
Men’s 400m,
semi 1. Carl Bengstrom, SWE ran 45.77 SB to win, Matej Krsek, CZE, ran 46.03 PB, Alexander Doom, BEL< ran 46.12, all 3 to final!
Semi 2, Karsten Warholm, NOR, 45.43, dominated the semi. Julien Watrin ran 45.82 NR and Oscar Husillos, ESP, 45.86 q, move to final!
Women’s 400m semi-final
Semi 1, Lieka Klaver, NED, blasted a 51.43 to win, with Anna Kielbasinska, POL, 51.67, and Lada Vondrova, CZE, 52.12 move to final.
Semi 2, Femke Bol ran 52.19, with focus and relaxed effort; she is the focus of the final. Susanne Gogl-Walli, AUT, 52.40, Tereza Petrizilokova, CZE, 52.93, all move to the final tomorrow.
Men’s shot put,
The Italian, Zane Weir, moved through three attempts, 21.16m, 21.89m, then, BOOM, 22.06m! Weir took the EL and the gold with that throw!
Tomas Stanek, CZE, defending champion, threw 20.54m, 21.90m, foul, 21.45m, foul, then 21.06m. His second throw held onto silver.
Roman Kokoshko, UKR, threw 21.25m, 20.57m, fould, foul, foul, then, BOOM, 21.84, taking Mihaljevic out of the medals.
A joyous Weir gives Italy a wonderful shot gold!
Women’s 3000m
Konstanze Klosterhalfen had run five 3000m races in twelve days.
Klosterhalfen, who loves to race, hit the 1k in 3:00, 2k in 5:50 and let at 2800m in 8:04. Hannah Klein ran a perfect race, running a PB of 8:35.7 to take gold; Klosterhalfen ran 8:36.50 to take silver and Melissa Courtney-Bryant, GBR ran a smart race, to take bronze in the 3000m in 8:41.19.
Men’s 1,500m,
An early race tussle pushed George Mills out of the race and Osama Meslek to DNF.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen, NOR, with a month off due to sickness, hit the 400m in 57.50, 800m in 1:55.47, with Neil Gourley leading at 800m, then, Jakob Ingebrigtsen took the lead once again, making a long run to finish, Neil Gourley valiantly tried twice, but could not get by the Norwegian star, who took gold in 3:33.95, with Neil Gourley, GBR, in silver, 3:34.23 and Azedinne Habz, FRA in bronze, 3:35.39.
Women’s Pentathlon
Nafi Thiam sets a new WR by 42 points! 8.23 for 60m, PB, 1.92m for HJ, 15.54m PB for SP, 6.59m for LJ and finishes with 2:13.60 in 800m for 5,055 points WR, Adriana Sulek, POL, 5,014 points NR for silver, and
Noor Vidts, BEL, 4823 points!
Women’s shot put
Auriol Dongmo put together a strong series, highlighted by a 19.76m EL and 4/5 legal throws over 19 meters. Dongmo took the gold. Sara Gambetta, GER, took silver in 18.83m on her fifth attempt. Fanny Roos, SWE, took the bronze with a throw of 18.42m.
Auriol told the media: “
I felt some pressure because my indoor season was the tough one. I wasn’t very sure what was about to happen. Last week at the training I became a little bit more confident about what I can do here. I had some really good throws. I am really pleased because throwing over 19.50m is a good starting point which gives me extra motivation to work hard. I wanted to throw over 20m, and in my head, that’s what I was working for. Also, coming here as a reigning champion put some pressure, but today everything went well so I am really, really happy.”
A surprised Gambetta confided to the media: “
I didn’t expect to win the medal today. It was my goal to get one but I didn’t expect it. I am so happy that I finally got one medal at the senior level. I came here with the mission to be in the top five and to achieve the season’s best. I achieved that, which makes me really happy.
We (Germans) have a young team, I even think I am almost the oldest. The youngsters in the team are having fun.
Auriol is playing at another league. She is the only European who can compete with the competitors overseas. For us Europeans, the goal is to close the gap between Auriol’s throws and ours. My focus for the outdoor season is, of course, qualifying for Budapest. I want to be in the top 8; that’s realistic.”
Fanny Roos, SWE, noted: “The competition was nice. It was a nice stadium, and the atmosphere was very cool. I’m happy now.”
Women’s 60-meter
The women’s 60 meters lived up to its hype. Mujinga Kambundji, SUI, got out well and just ran for the gold, running 7.00, equalling the fastest time by a European finalist ever. Ewa Swoboda, POL, ran 7.09, taking the silver, just beating out Darryl Neita, GBR in 7.11, who took the bronze. A fantastic build up and series of races, with all three sprints completed in 1 day.
