Sheryf El-Sheryf bags limelight at the European Athletics Under-23 Championships – Athletics news
The 8th edition of the European Athletics U-23 championships that had kicked-off with a pioneering performance displayed by David Storl, the shot putter from Germany, concluded in an equally impeccable manner as Ukraine’s young gun, Sheryf El-Sheryf,
observed an admiring triple jump of 17.72m on Sunday, July 17.
The event, organised by the European Athletics Association after every two years, allows European athletes who are below 23 years to age to display their athletics potential and to use the contest as a springboard for their professional careers ahead. Initiated
back in 1997, the event was originally aimed at replacing and rejuvenating its old version named as the European Athletics U-23 Cup, which commenced biannually in 1992 and 1994.
While organised at Ostrava, the third largest city of the Czech Republic, the four-day event observed the emergence of four championships records. The first one to leave the crowd electrified and enthralled was of course the German shot putter, who, by surpassing
his nearest competitor by over a metre marked his dominance over the track. After reaching into the finals, he could not help kicking-off his start with two fouls, but the German did not take long before getting his nerves back and after marking a throw of
19.79m, gained his momentum back.
For witnessing a 20.45m landing in the fifth round, he finished as the victor of the event. By bagging the title in his discipline, the 20-year-old German has extended his winning streak to nine successes. Commenting upon how, despite aiming for a big throw,
he could not mark a new Personal Best, Storl said, “I was thinking about 21-metre barrier because I managed to throw it already a few weeks ago but after I started the competition with two faults, I became a little nervous.”
On the other hand, the finisher of the event, El-Sheryf, encapsulated the fact that the efforts made by promoters of athletics loving bodies were paying the dividends and new talent was emerging on the surface to inspire the ever increasing crowd of the
sport. In presence of the emphatic and dominating triple jumper from France, Teddy Tamgho, the chances of El-Sheryf to prevail on the field were meagre, but those who were expecting the French athlete to emerge as the winner were left disappointed when he
was disqualified because of a limping foot.
While reflecting his content thoughts and the details of his efforts behind this surprising success, the young jumper said, “I have been training for this result for last three years. Without Teddy Tamgho, the competition was perhaps not so interesting for
the public and I was so sorry because he is my fried and we have been competing for five years.” He said that after this win, he was focusing on the big event in Korea, where he would more than love to secure a medal.
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