The runner to look at was in Lane 2, and she or he was exhausting to overlook: Jolien Boumkwo of Belgium was a head taller than each different girl within the second warmth of the 100-meter hurdles.
Boumkwo usually competes in monitor and discipline’s energy occasions — the shot-put, hammer throw and discus — however on Saturday on the European Staff Championships in Krakow, Poland, Belgium wanted a hurdler. Any hurdler.
The 2 it had delivered to the meet had been injured, and if Belgium didn’t ship a runner to the beginning line within the 100 hurdles, its staff would have been disqualified.
So when it turned clear there have been no different candidates to step in, Boumkwo volunteered.
“I assumed the possibility would have been very small of me having to do that,” mentioned Boumkwo, who realized she could be working the hurdles the day earlier than the race. As soon as it turned clear she was going to be the one on the beginning line, she mentioned she tried to not give it some thought an excessive amount of.
She mentioned she instructed herself: “If I’m going to do that, I wish to make the very best of it and attempt to get pleasure from it.”
And it looks like that’s precisely what she did. Boumkwo beamed and waved on the tv cameras when she was launched with the remainder of the runners.
Kind was not her precedence. Neither was pace, though she remembered the strategies of hurdling, Boumkwo, 29, mentioned in a telephone interview on Monday. On Friday, she had completed seventh within the shot-put.
Boumkwo mentioned she wasn’t nervous in regards to the race. “It was a lovely ambiance,” she mentioned. “I took my race severely,” including that she “took it hurdle by hurdle.”
Whereas she was very proud of the position she performed for her staff, she mentioned she’d stick with her personal sport for now. “I’m not made for hurdling,” she mentioned.
Belgium wanted each level. Its staff hoped to remain within the prime division of the European Staff Championships, an occasion during which international locations compete towards their relative friends in three leagues which might be based mostly on efficiency. Disqualification would probably imply demotion for Belgium. Operating, even when she completed final, would imply two helpful factors, which she knew may make the distinction.
And so, for one afternoon, Boumkwo turned a hurdler. Stepping quite than leaping over every hurdle, after which jogging to the following one, she took her time. The remainder of the sector was already over their second hurdle and sprinting towards the following when Boumkwo lifted her foot ever-so-carefully over the primary one.
Her objective was to complete, and to complete on her ft, nonetheless lengthy it took. An embarrassing fall most likely wouldn’t have made a distinction — she knew she was going to be final — however an damage undoubtedly would have made issues worse. Fastidiously and calmly, she cleared each impediment and crossed the end line in 32.81 seconds.
The gang cheered in appreciation. A fellow runner, Maja Maunsbach of Sweden, greeted Boumkwo simply previous the road with a double-handed excessive 5. Catarina Queiros of Portugal, who had run within the lane subsequent to Boumkwo, prolonged a hand of congratulations.
Each Maunsbach, who was seventh, and Queiros, who was sixth, had completed fractions of a second behind the warmth’s winner, Teresa Errandonea of Spain, who gained in 13.22 seconds.
The storybook ending for Boumkwo and Belgium, nonetheless, was to not be. Belgium completed 14th within the staff standings, 6.5 factors behind Greece — a niche too giant for even Boumkwo to make up — and was demoted to Division 2.
Boumkwo mentioned the demotion was disappointing however that she was overwhelmed by the outpouring of affection and help. “This was most likely my greatest European Championship ever,” she mentioned. “I acquired one thing very good out of it.”