KRAKOW, Poland — Belgium shot put and hammer throw champion Jolien Boumkwo displayed great team spirit at the European Athletics Team Championship in Poland when she stepped up outside her event and ran a 100 metres hurdles race to save her team from getting disqualified.
Boumkwo appeared all smiles when she carefully attempted each hurdle in a video that went viral, after she stepped in when Belgium’s two hurdlers had to pull out due to injury.
Had no Belgian athlete competed in the event, the team would have been disqualified.
Boumkwo clocked 32.81 seconds, finishing last in the race in Chorzow won by Spain’s Teresa Errandonea in 13.22 seconds after stepping in at the last moment to replace injured compatriot Anne Zagre, a specialist in the discipline.
No other hurdler in the Belgian team was available and in the event of a no-show, Belgium would have been disqualified.
Boumkwo was applauded by the audience and congratulated by her rivals as she earned two points for the team.
The points could be crucial as the bottom three countries will be relegated from Division 1.
“My team is the most important thing for me,” 29-year-old Boumkwo said, dressed in tracksuit bottoms and towering over her rivals.
She had to step over the hurdles rather than jump, but finished with a huge smile having secured vital points for her struggling team.
“I couldn’t let it happen to lose by one point. That’s why I considered taking part in 100m hurdles. There was no risk for me if I took it calmly,” she added according to AFP.
Boumkwo, who is also Belgian hammer throw champion, finished seventh in the shot put competition played out as part of the European Games.3.
Spain’s Teresa Errandonea secured first place in the event with a time of 13.22 seconds. Reflecting on her experience,
“We sometimes do hurdles in training, so I know how to do it. I thought it was a special experience because much more than with the shot put I had the feeling that everyone was looking at me,” Boumkwo said.
Since her debut appearance at the European Junior Championships in 2011, Boumkwo has been representing Belgium on the international stage.
Over the years, she has showcased her skills and determination. In the 2023 European Indoor Championships held in Turkey, Boumkwo finished in 15th place.
“I try not to take myself too seriously as an athlete. The past has taught me that that will only make you cramp.
“If my two points ensure that we stay in the top division, this will certainly have been worth it,” Boumkwo added.
Elsewhere, hurdle queen Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s experiment in the 400 meters flat appeared to be paying off, when she cruised to victory at the NYC Grand Prix in 49.51 seconds, while Noah Lyles showed no loss of form to thrash the 200-meter field.
American McLaughlin-Levrone wrested the lead at the halfway point from compatriot and 200-meter Olympic bronze medalist Gabby Thomas, who finished second in 50.29. Jamaican Charokee Young took third in 51.02.
“The flat is definitely harder in my opinion,” McLaughlin-Levrone said. “It’s hard to kind of figure out your cadence midrace. At least with hurdles I kind of know where I’m at. It’s a different kind of pain but the challenging good one.”
The 23-year-old took a huge chunk out of her own 400-meter hurdles world record last year to win the world championship in 50.68 and become the first woman to break the 51-second barrier in the event.
On the same night, she eyed new territory and told reporters she was considering a foray into the 400-meter flat.
McLaughlin-Levrone finished second in her 400-meter season debut at the Paris Diamond League earlier this month and said she had deployed a new technique to achieve her personal best at the Continental Tour Gold event in New York.
“Compared to the Diamond League race in Paris, I went out a little more conservatively to kind of feel the back end a little bit better. I did a good job of that,” she told reporters. “Some things to clean up, but a PR is a PR.”
Later in the day at Icahn Stadium, Lyles exploded off the blocks and never ceded the lead to cross the finish in 19.83 and tie retired great Usain Bolt’s record for the most sub-20-second finishes in the 200.
Issam Asinga of Suriname took second in 20.25 and American Elijah Morrow finished third in 20.30.
