The Portuguese Mariana Machado qualified this Thursday for the final of the 3,000 meters of the European Athletics Championships on the indoor track, in Istanbul, Turkey, with the 15th time in the qualifiers.
Mariana Machado concluded the first of the two series in eighth place, in 09.07.78 minutes, which earned her the third and last place in the playoffs to the semifinals.
The 22-year-old Sporting de Braga athlete arrived in Istanbul 2023, her second ‘indoor’ Europeans with the 12th mark of the year (08:59.69 minutes), slightly above her personal record (08:59.69 minutes), dating from 2021.
The national record for the 3,000 meters has been set at 08:36.79 minutes since February 17, 2002 by Carla Sacramento, a distance in which 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, seventh in the 10,000 meters in Seoul 1988 and in the 1987 World Cup in Rome, will return to the Ataköy Arena track in Istanbul on Friday at 8:18 p.m. local time (5:18 p.m. in Lisbon), to compete in the final.
Source: TSF
