At the conclusion of the fourth and final day of Istanbul 2023, Spanish hurdler Enrique Llopis left the Ataköy Arena in silence after a fall that left him lifeless.
The hurdler from Valencia, who reached the final with the best time ever (7.48), took the fifth and final hurdle and before crossing the finish line fell to the ground, lifeless, much to the fear of all present. Normalcy and the celebration of the last of Europe’s 26 champions only resumed with the signal to the stands of the Spanish medical team coming to Llopis.
According to the press service of the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation, the 22-year-old hurdler was taken to a hospital after falling unconscious, but after some diagnostic tests, he revealed no fracture.
The athlete himself sent a message from his hospital bed to reassure the supporters.
On social networks, there was no lack of people who were outraged by the apparent indifference of the athletes running next to them.
The race was won by Switzerland’s Jason Joseph, who improved his personal best set this year by winning in 7.41, after relegating Poland’s Jakub Szymanski to second and France’s Just Kwaou-Mathey to third, with 7. 56 and 7.59.
On the fourth and final day of Istanbul 2023, Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen was crowned a two-time champion when he also won the gold medal in Istanbul 2023 in the 3000 to 1500 meters, in a calm stride and easily beating, in 07:40.32 minutes, the Spaniard Adel Mechaal and the Serbian Elzan Bibic, second and third respectively.
In the 800 metres, Britain’s Kelly Hodgkinson reconfirmed the title, confirming her favourite, completing the final in 01:58:66 minutes, which she had reached as the only one to run four laps under two minutes, ahead of Slovenia’s Anita Horvat and the French Agnes Raharolahy.
Frenchman Kevin Mayer, two-time decathlon world champion, asserted his supremacy in the combined events and added his third European title on an indoor track, repeating the performances of Belgrade 2017 and Torun 2021 with 6,348 points. Norway’s Sander Skotheim took the silver medal, with 6.318, while Estonia’s Risto Lillemets improved fifth from the last Europeans with 6.079.
Even in ‘hostile’ terrain, the Greek Mitiadis Tentoglou, Olympic and European champion, became a three-time champion in the long jump, with 8.30 meters, 11 centimeters from his best mark in 2023, surpassing the Swede Thobias Montler (8, 19) . who reached his season record with four clear points, and the Romanian Gabriel Bitan (8.00).
Yaroslava Mahuchikh, 21 years old, reconfirmed the European title in the high jump and added it to the World Indoor Track Championship by overcoming the 1.98 meter bar.
Dutch Britt Weerman interfered with 1.96 in the Ukrainian domain and jumped to silver, relegating Ukraine’s Kateryna Tabashnyk, whose mother was killed in a Russian attack on Kharkiv in August 2022, to bronze with the same 1.94 ahead of Serbia’s Angelina Topic and compatriot Yuliia Levchenko.
In the high jump, without Italian Gianmarco Tamberi, who decided to focus on the outdoor season, Dutchman Douwe Amels surprised Ukrainian Andrii Protsenko, who had 2.32 as the best mark of the year, by surpassing the bar at 2.31 meters. tall, two centimeters more than that of the Sporting athlete, who won silver, despite being equal to the Belgian Thomas Carmoy,
Even without the great figure of the pole vault, the Swede Armand Duplantis, world record holder and title holder, won the Norwegian Sondre Guttormsen, thanks to a ‘clean’ competition to 5.80, a mark also achieved by the Greek Emmanouil Karalis, with a zero at 5.60, by the Pole Piotr Lisek, who missed 5.70, and by the German Torben Blech, with knockdowns at 5.40 and 5.70.
Evelise Veiga eighth
Britain’s Jazmin Sawyers also benefited from the absence of Ukraine’s Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk, now practically only a three-time but still long jump champion, to win the gold medal, after she jumped 7.00 meters on her fifth attempt, three centimeters more than Italy’s Larissa Iapichino and nine more than Serbia’s Ivana Vuleta, in the only final of the day with the Portuguese, and that Evelise Veiga finished in eighth place, with 6.36.
In the 4×400 meters, the Netherlands reconfirmed the women’s title and Belgium won the men’s. Julien Watrin led Belgium to victory, in 03.05.83, followed by France (03.06.52) and the Netherlands (03.06.59), in a race led by Spain, fourth (03.06.87)
In the women’s sector, Femke Bol confirmed the second successive victory of the Netherlands, which dominated the race and left open the remaining places on the podium, occupied by Italy and Poland respectively.
Adrian Ben, at the finish, took the second medal and the only gold for Spain, in the 800 meters, with the same time 01:47.34 from the Frenchman Benjamin Robert, second, while the Belgian Eliott Crestan was third.
Reetta Hurske confirmed her favoritism in the penultimate event of the program, the 60m hurdles, by repeating the Finnish national record she had set this year (7.79 seconds) on the Ataköy Arena circuit, imposing herself on the Dutch and title holder Nadine Visser, who finished the race in 7.84, his best time of 2023, less than the 7.77 of his personal best.
Source: DN
