Pedro Pablo Pichardo and Tiago Pereira qualified this Thursday for the triple jump final of the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.
The Olympic, World and European outdoor champion set a new national record of 17.48 meters on his first attempt.
Pichardo already had the best mark of the year among entrants (17.12), while Tiago Pereira arrived at the competition with the eighth-best record of 2022 (16.48), still below his personal best (16.65).
Pichardo, 29, broke the national indoor record of 17.46 meters by two centimeters to have won him the gold medal in Torun2021at the time reworking the performance of Nelson Évora, champion in Praga2015 and Belgrade2017 – it is, along with the 1,500 metres, with Rui Silva’s ‘tri’, the specialty with the most Portuguese titles.
Tiago Pereira got his best mark on the third and final attempt and achieved the fifth best record of the qualifiers, still below his best record of 2022 (16.48) and his personal best (16.65).
The triple jump final of the 37th edition of the European Indoor Athletics Championships is scheduled for Friday and starts at 8.35 pm local time (5.35 pm in Lisbon).
Auriol Dongmo in the final shot put 18.51 meters
Portugal’s Auriol Dongmo qualified for the shot put final by hitting 18.51 meters in the first attempt.
Auriol Dongmo, 32 years old, reached his second European championships on an indoor track, after taking the title in Torun2021, with the second best mark of the year (19.24 meters), one centimeter less than that of the Dutch Jessica Schilder (19.25 ), which has already secured its presence in the final, with 19.18.
The Sporting pitcher, who launched the device this Thursday at 6:51 p.m., an inch above the direct qualifying mark, holds the national record of 20.43, set on March 18, 2022, when she became world indoor champion in Belgrade.
The weight throw also includes Jessica Inchude, 26 years old, who entered the competition in 2023 with the fifth best mark, thanks to 18.47 meters of her personal best, and Eliana Bandeira, the same age, who presented herself with the ninth launch of the year, also with the best score ever (17.97).
The shot put final is scheduled for Friday and starts at 20:53 local time (17:53 in Lisbon).
Mariana Machado in the 3000m final
The Portuguese Mariana Machado placed 15th in the qualifications for the final of the 3000 meters.
Mariana Machado finished the first of the two series in eighth place, in 9:07.78 minutes, which gave her third and last place in the rematch for the semifinals.
The Sporting de Braga athlete, aged 22, arrived in Istanbul2023, her second ‘indoor’ Europeans with 12th place of the year (8:59.69 minutes), slightly above her personal best (8:59.69 minutes), dating from 2021 .
The national record in the 3000 meters has been set since February 17, 2002 at 08:36.79 minutes by Carla Sacramento, a distance Portugal has already won three gold medals, two by Fernanda Ribeiro, in Paris 1994 and Stockholm 1996, and another by Sara Moreira, in Gothenburg 2013.
Mariana Machado, daughter of Albertina Machado, who finished seventh in the 10,000 meters in Seoul 1988 and in the World Cup in Rome 1987, will return to the track on Friday at 8:18 pm local time (5:18 pm in Lisbon) to compete in the last.
Source: DN
