On Wednesday, Gediminas Truskauskas, the only sprinter representing the Lithuanian national team, stepped into the Tokyo Olympic Stadium. The athlete, who participated in the second World Championship in a row, started in the 200 m qualification and covered the distance in 20.95 seconds. This result allowed him to take the 8th position in his run, and among more than half a dozen participants, G. Truskauskas took the 47th place in the world championships.
A total of 24 sprinters made it to the semi-finals of the 200 m race. The result of the last participant who qualified was 20.43 seconds. This time is faster than the Lithuanian record, which has belonged to G. Truskauskas since 2021 (20.48 seconds). This year, the Lithuanian covered the 200 m distance twice in 20.51 seconds, once in 20.52 seconds, and in the last competition before the World Championships he ran the distance in 20.45 seconds. However, in this case, the wind was higher (+2.5) than the permissible (+2.0), so a new national record was not recorded.
“I didn’t expect such a result. The goal was to run about 20.50 seconds, which I have been doing steadily this season. I came to realize myself and show my best form, but obviously I couldn’t do it. It’s disappointing, I wanted to end the season with better emotions. However, experience was gained.
We started the season quite early, the peak was in mid-July, and if we started early, it is difficult to maintain that form as good as possible. To some extent, it was not possible to do so. However, it’s nice to represent Lithuania in such competitions and run in the stadium with such an atmosphere,” said G. Truskauskas, who took 39th place at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest (Hungary) after the 200 m qualifiers.
When asked about the reasons for the demonstrated result, G. Truskauskas did not look for excuses and praised the conditions and opponents. In addition, it took a lot of strength to qualify for this championship, as only 48 sprinters from all over the world can qualify for this event: “You can find many reasons why we didn’t succeed, but we try not to go into details, because everything is done with reason. I can’t say that it was this or that who put his foot down. Before the start, everything was positive, I entered the stadium confidently, the conditions were great, and the opponents were very fast. It just so happened that I couldn’t fully realize myself. There is no need to be sad, lessons will be learned.
I couldn’t afford to get in shape later because I had to rank for the championship. In mid-July and August there was that peak form. It’s one of the longest seasons I’ve had. A lot of experience has been accumulated, you can learn from various situations.”
The start of the World Championship was the main goal of G. Truskauskas’ season. This year, the athlete improved the Lithuanian 200 m indoor record (20.98 seconds) and was part of the record men’s 4×100 m relay (39.77 seconds).
“We managed to run steadily well, and the season is one of the most successful. It was nerve-wracking because I found out almost at the last minute [about qualifying for the World Cup]. The qualification system was closed and we still had to wait for all countries to send the final national team lists. At that time, the emotions were superb. However, the participation was not as expected. The goals are big, so you don’t always manage to fulfill them. We need to understand that everything will happen. That’s what makes sport interesting. You can look at the future positively. Now the season is over, so we need to take a break and prepare for the further process,” said G. Truskauskas.
The athlete is coached by Martas Skrabulis, to whom the student did not spare nice words: “A lot of experience has been gained for me and the coach. We polished ourselves more in the training process. Now we will know how and what to do better. We are moving in the right direction, we always correct mistakes. We will try to make even fewer mistakes and run more stable and faster. It is a great honor to represent my country in competitions of this level. It motivates me and the coach a lot that I succeed in following that path. There were thoughts about the semi-finals, and then the performance would be rated 11 points out of 10.”
In the final of the 200 m race on Friday, G. Truskauskas sees a lot of intrigue and expects a tense fight. The Lithuanian attaches the label of the favorite to Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo, who triumphed at the Paris Olympics last year. G. Truskauskas, who spoke about his support for his compatriots, wished good results, and Mykolas Alekna – to bring home a gold medal.
The men’s discus throw qualification will take place on Saturday early in the morning. Mykolas Alekna, Martynas Alekna and Andrius Gudžius will participate in it. The discus throw final will take place on Sunday at 2:10 p.m. Lithuania is represented by 11 track and field athletes at the World Championships. The Planet Championships in the Far East take place on September 13-21, and the competition is broadcast live by LRT and the portal Eurovision Sport.
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Photo by Alfredas Pliadis
