European Athletics Championships: Xénia Krizsán is a Bronze medalist in Pentathlon!

Vágólapra másolva!

2021.03.06. 22:24

Címkék

With great tactic and spurt, Xénia Krizsán won bronze at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland.

On the first day of the European Athletics Indoor Championships, the women's pentathlon battles began. There were two Hungarians in the top 12: Xénia Krizsán who has a chance of winning a medal and Rita Nemes who competed in her first-ever senior international event.

Hurdles started well for both of them where Krizsán finished third with a personal best of 8.27, and Nemes finished eighth with 8.47. In high jump, they both reached 177, but it should be noted that Krizsán approached the jury table after her second attempt and said that she won't jump again. The 28-year-old athlete of MTK Budapest suffered a foot injury a few weeks ago at the national championships and, not having fully recovered since, probably didn't want to take any risk. Fortunately for her, the rest of the athletes didn't perform well either in the event.

Krizsán was back for shot put, and after the first attempt, she had the best throw of the year of 14.23. Then, she finished the series in second place with a personal best of 14.48. Only Olympic, World and European champion Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium finished before her. After a poor start, Nemes had a good third attempt finishing fifth with 13.72, so after the first three events of pentathlon Krizsán was in third place and Nemes was in sixth place. This means that they both resumed the events in the afternoon from great rankings.

In the evening, it turned out that the tartan resisted the 7.26-kg iron ball well enough as in the men's shot put, Portugal's Francisco Belo's first attempt was not only simply thrown outside the sector, but the ball flew over the net and landed in the middle of the running track, where fortunately no one was present. His second attempt was 21.28, which he was so happy for that his shouting for joy could be heard in Lódz too.

In the meantime, Krizsán started the long jump with a distance of 610, which was neither bad since her personal best is just eleven centimeters longer, nor good because she finished in seventh place only. It is gratifying that she still retained third place in the overall ranking, but she had to look behind her rather than in front because while Noor Vidts of Belgium was well ahead of her, Ivona Dadic from Austria was just 15 points behind her in fourth place.

Several people from the Hungarian team came out in the afternoon to cheer, and since the last event of pentathlon, the 800m flat run, was one of Krizsán's biggest strengths, she had a better chance of winning the medal than ever before. Coach Dezső Szabó's athlete of MTK Budapest did not disappoint – she won the last event by a tenth by running tactically and finished third overall with a new individual score of 4644 points!

Rita Nemes also competed superbly in her first senior world competition, just two points (!) ahead of Poland's Paulina Ligarska.

Belgium's Thiam claimed the victory with a towering 660 centimeters with which she could've reached the European Championships finals in long jump, too. After Rita Ináncsi's silver in 1994 and Györgyi Zsivoczky-Farkas' bronze in 2017, Krizsán earned Hungarian pentathlon another European indoor championship medal.

KRIZSÁN SPURTED AMAZINGLY IN 800M
– You spurted amazingly in the 800m! – I had to the opportunity to win a medal at a senior world competition for the first time, so I had to run tactically in the last event, recalled Xénia Krizsán. “My Austrian rival was behind me by 15 points, and my coach told me that I had to run smart because we didn't know if Dadic would start strongly or get behind me and get intense towards the end. It was a hustle in the beginning, and luckily, she got in front of me, so I could react to it. I felt she slowed down in the last round, but I got more and more energy, so I exploded and ran the remaining distance. – So you didn't care about the time? – No because I had to focus on one person; I couldn't have gotten ahead more, the second person had too much advantage. In hindsight, this last event wasn't difficult, I still had some energy in me. I ran myself out, but I run in my own pace I could've done even better. – Did your leg not hurt in the long jump? – I did feel my heels, but the problem was with the board: I didn't touch it in the first two attempts, and in the last one I stepped in slightly which I regret because it would've been better to start with a bigger advantage in the last event. – When did you first feel you were going to win medal? – After the long jump. I didn't care about the results until then, but I saw that I had a 15-point lead. It's not much, but I knew it could be done!

Viktória Wagner-Gyürkés (Photo: Imre Földi, archive)

“I DIDN'T FEEL COMFORTABLE”
– How much did you run yourself out in the qualifying heat? – It seems that more than I thought, said Viktória Wagner-Gyürkés who finished 10^th in 3000m. – I expected to recover better for the finals. I was left alone, but I should've been able to handle the rivals, and I shouldn't have stayed behind in the middle. – Was the run different than a day ago? – I didn't feel comfortable, and it didn't go so well. The first 1000 meters were fine, but I don't why, in the second one I couldn't keep up. Plus, I stepped on someone's ripped number with the sticker side facing upwards, and I ran with it on my spiked shoe for like 10 rounds... This wasn't the reason, of course, but it was very annoying. In the end, I couldn't step out of it because I felt this wasn't going to work out and I couldn't get myself fired up. – What place were you expecting yourself in? – I was like there is anything between the podium and the 12^th place, but I'm quite disappointed that I finished in the worse end of the scale. I expected a better time, closer to my personal best or maybe even a new record. At least I had a good run in the qualifying heat, and I'm proud that I could reach the European Championships finals in flat run as a steeplechase runner – even if I had bigger goals.

36^th EUROPEAN ATHLETICS INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS, TORUN
Men's
400m, qualifying heat:47^th Dániel Huller (Hungary) 48.52, didn't make it to the semi-finals.
800m, qualifying heat: 27^th Balázs Vindics (Hungary) 1:50.40, ...35^th Tamás Kazi (Hungary) 1:51.85, neither of them made it to the semi-finals.
1500m. European Champion: Marcin Lewandowski (Poland) 3:38.06,2^nd Jesús Gomes (Spain) 3:38.47, 3^rd Ignacio Fontes (Spain) 3:39.66,...7^thIstván Szögi (Hungary) 3:40.40
Long jump. European Champion: Miltiadis Tentoglou (Greece) 835,2nd Thobias Montler (Sweden) 831, 3^rd Kristian Pulli (Finland) 824
Shot put. European Champion:Tomás Stanek (Czech Republic) 21.62,2^nd Michal Haratyk (Poland) 21.47. 3^rd Filip Mihajlovic (Croatia) 21.31

Women's

400m, qualifying heat:39^th Evelin Nádházy (Hungary) 55.11, didn't make it to the semi-finals.
3000m. European Champion: Amy-Eloise Markovc (Great Britain) 8:46.43,2^nd Alice Finot (France) 8:46.54, 3^rd Verity Ockenden (Great Britain) 8:46.60,...10^th Viktória Wagner-Gyürkés (Hungary) 9:02.81
Long jump, qualifiers:16^th Diána Lesti (Hungary) 618, didn't make it to the finals.
Shot put. European Champion: Auriol Dongmo (Portugal) 19.34,2^nd Fanni Roos (Sweden) 19.29, 3^rd Christina Schwanitz (Germany) 19.04
Pentathlon. European Champion: Nafissatou Thiam (Belgium) 4904 points,2^nd Noor Vidts (Belgium) 4791,3^rd Xénia Krizsán (Hungary, club: MTK; coach: Dezső Szabó) 4644, ...6^th Rita Nemes (Hungary) 4486