Yelena Lashmanova observes a new junior Race Walk record in Tallinn – Athletics news
The 21st European Athletics Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, have been a record-making event this year. The tournament, which concluded on Sunday, July 24, observed about ten new event records this year. Lead by young Russian athlete,
Yelena Lashmanova, among others, another prominent performer of the event was Angelica Bengtsson from Sweden, who marked her dominance in the pole vault competition. The results observed by her were regarded as the best ever height cleared by a junior athlete,
in the women’s event.
Lashmanova, the most formidable performer of the event, kicked-off her race with a resolve to hit some tremendous results. She was undeterred by a burning 30 degree temperature, as she gradually went on to build her dominance over the track. Running in the
meet with a sustained momentum, she covered the initial 25 laps of the run within no later than 42 minutes and 59.48 seconds.
Had she been just 12 seconds quicker, she could have bagged the world junior record for the discipline which is presently possessed by her countrywoman, Vera Sokolova, who claimed the title along with the record, six years ago.
Toiling to build her pace while pulling herself away from her followers, she was the sole leader by the time 4km was covered. The margin by which she led her rivals can be judged from the fact that Svetlana Vasileva, her runner-up, could only hit the finishing
line after about two minutes when Lashmanova had already normalised her breath.
Content with her success and on the fact that it was Russia, her country, that had emerged as the final dominator, she said, “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the numbers on the board. It was really hard to perform in such weather conditions but Russia
won all the medals and we are really happy with our results. This was the most important race of the year for us, so we achieved the goal.”
The performance that left spectators in Tallinn over-awed after the Russian performer had displayed her potential, was marked by Germany’s Women’s 4x100m relay team. The team comprised of athletes like Alexandra Burkhardt, Tatjana Lofamakanda Pinto, Anna-Lena
Freese and Katherina Grompe, claimed victory in an emphatic 43.42 seconds.
Even after the new championships record, which was improved by over 0.6 seconds, no one could realise the fact that the previous record of the event had been marked and was unmoved from the time when the winners of this new record holders were not even born.
However, what everyone would remember now will be the fact that what a calculated foot work was displayed by a team which was earlier considered as underdogs for the competition.
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