Portuguese in the European Athletics Finals
Auriol Dongmo, in the final of the weight throw, and Pedro Pichardo, in the triple jump, are the highlights in the list of eight Portuguese who today compete in the second day of European indoor track and field in Torun.
Who also advances to the final is Mariana Machado, who benefited from the disqualification of two athletes in the second round of the 3,000 meters to ‘close’ the list of finalists, even achieving a personal record.
Both Dongmo and Pichardo arrived in Poland as European leaders of the year, with a wide margin of advancement, which places them as the main Portuguese bets for medals.
Thursday, the Portuguese-Cameroonian Auriol Dongmo had an easy qualification, surpassing the mark of access to the second attempt. Better, however, was the main rival, the German Christina Schwanitz, qualified with only one launch.
The Portuguese Pedro Pichardo, a great favorite to win the gold medal of the triple jump in European athletics, managed today, in Torun, an easy qualification for the final of the race, by jumping 17.03 meters.
Francisco Belo, who was fourth in Glasgow two years ago, made the third test a personal record at 21.04 meters, being one of the two athletes to surpass the 21.00 of direct qualification, alongside the Polish Michal Haratyk.
For the final, which is still going on today, starting at 19:25 (Lisbon time), it was necessary to fish six more athletes.
Thus, Portugal will have three athletes involved in the finals of today’s program: Belo, Auriol Dongmo (women’s weight, at 6:06 pm), and Mariana Machado (3,000 women’s meters, at 8 pm).
