Auriol Dongmo qualified this Saturday directly for the shot put final of the World Athletics Championships, in Budapest, with a throw of 19.59 meters, in the first attempt, while Jessica Inchude and Eliana Bandeira were eliminated.
The world and European indoor champion, runner-up in Europe outdoors, fourth at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and fifth at the 2022 Oregon World Cup, was the second athlete to throw, after New Zealand’s Maddison-Lee Wesche will reach 18.59.
A few minutes later, Dongmo, 33, surpassed this mark by one meter and ‘seals’ the pass to the final, scheduled for today, at 8:15 p.m. (7:15 p.m.), surpassing the direct classification mark (19 :10).
“My intention was to get out of the first test and finish qualifying. I did it and I thank God,” concluded Dongmo, lamenting the “very horrible heat” in the Hungarian capital.
The Portuguese was the first of the eight pitchers to advance directly to the decision of the contest, with the second best mark, just behind the Dutch Jessica Schilder (19.64, her best mark of the year), bronze medalist in Oregon 2022.
The Portuguese record holder, with 20.43, who was 20th in Beijing 2015, always with Cameroon, will put an end to the Portuguese participation in the XIX World Cups, admitting that she feels the responsibility of achieving a good result and assuring that she is in good physical shape.
“Of course I feel responsibility. I have worked and made many sacrifices to get here and I need to pay back everything I did before, not only for myself, but for the whole team,” stressed the Sporting pitcher.
Below the direct qualification mark for the final, and the 18.59 meters reached by Wesche, right in the first test, which gave him 12th and last place, were the other Portuguese, in a competition in which the Dongmo’s fifth place finish last year is the best result of all time.
Jessica Inchude, 27, finished in 16th place, improving one position compared to the 2022 Oregon World Cup. [antes já tinha sido 30.ª em Londres 2017 ainda pela Guiné-Bissau]with 18.16, achieved in the third and last shot, after 17.74 and a zero.
“I am very satisfied with my mark and with my ranking. I got a better mark and moved up one place compared to last year, so I think it’s a very good balance. I think I competed very well, but so did my opponents and It was a complicated contest. I did the best I could,” Inchude said.
Eliana Bandeira, also 27 years old, was four places below, in 21st place, thanks to the 17.79 of the last throw, after two null ones.
“Everything was left for the end, but, anyway, I’m very happy to have been among the best in the world and to have lifted the women’s shot put in Portugal, with three great athletes in this championship, which was the first. to the final and that was one of the objectives, but I gained some experience and I’m aiming for the Olympic Games. I have to continue, because the season was positive, but it is to improve, refine the technique, because there is some instability, for the year that is coming,” said Bandeira.
The final of the women’s shot put competition, the only discipline in which Portugal ‘exhausted’ the qualifying quota, puts an end to the Portuguese presence in the 19th World Cup, without having yet conquered any position above eighth place.
Source: TSF
