Patrícia Mamona wants “second place or better” in Europeans
Athlete of Sporting won the silver medal two years ago in Belgrade.
Athlete Patricia Mamona said today that her goal in the triple jump European Indoor Championships competition in Glasgow “is to take a second or better place.”
“My aim is to make a second or better place,” said Patricia Mamona, shortly before her departure for Scotland. “It’s a very strong competition.
The Sporting athlete, who has been a silver medalist for the indoor European Championships held in Belgrade for two years, admitted that after being able to secure a place in the final, anything can happen.
“I had a fairly regular winter season, now I have to think about the qualification, which for me is perhaps the most complicated part. After that, it’s giving everything and I think a big surprise can appear if that happens,” he said.
Patrícia Mamona said that the World Cups, which will be held at the end of September in Doha, “are the great warm-up for the Olympic Games” in Tokyo in 2020, but considered it essential to stay in shape.
“The weather is going super-fast and everyone is jumping a lot and I have to be also at a level to jump a lot and then have good expectations to jump into the Olympic Games,” he said.
Weightlifter Tsanko Arnaudov, who has been at the door of the podium in the last two years, has assumed that the goal is to improve the previous classification.
“The first objective is to pass the qualification, after which the goal is always to improve the previous classification,” he said, admitting to being “better psychologically prepared to face the competition.”
The Benfica athlete considered that the indoor track Europe, which run from Friday to Sunday, is a competition in which everything is open: “Most launches in the rotation, so anyone can reach 21 meters and win a medal”.
Francisco Belo, holder of the best national brand of the year in the launching of the weight (20.90 meters) has shown willingness to go to Glasgow to establish a new brand of the season.
“I want to go in the best possible shape of the season, get there in the best way and make the best mark of the season. I can not promise anything except to give my best, the main goal is to reach the final and in the final continue to fight for the place highest on the podium, “said the Benfica athlete.
José Santos, National Technical Director (DTN), assured that the selection, composed of 13 athletes, “prepared to have the best possible classifications”.
“Everyone wants medals, we will wait for the results, but I think we will have good and interesting results for our country,” he said.
Portugal will be represented at the European Track and Field Championships covered by 13 athletes, with Sporting being the most represented club, with nine.
The team is led by experienced athletes Nelson Evora, two-time European champion (2015 and 2017), who will try an unprecedented ‘tri’, and Patrícia Mamona, runner-up in 2017. The most represented sector is speed and barriers (six athletes), followed by the jumps (three).
