On Sunday, the last day of the first division of the European Team Championship, records were broken by Lithuanian sprinters and a ball pusher who made his debut in the championship. Lukrecija Sabaitytė (200 m – 23.11 seconds) and Simonas Bakanas (shot put – 17.87 m) set new personal records, while Gediminas Truskauskas (200 m – 20.67 seconds) achieved the best result of the season.

S. Bakanas, who represented Lithuania in the shot put, pushed the tool 16.90 m in the first attempt, 17.87 m in the second, and the third attempt was not counted. This result allowed her to take 15th place and improve her personal record by as much as 37 centimeters (the old one – 17.50 m).

“The goals were set to come back with a personal record and not be the last. The result of my career before the start was the worst among all the participants, but the competition is a competition and it turned out that I was not the last,” said the athlete after the race, who fulfilled the goals set.

This summer season, S. Bakan had already started five times, but he never pushed the ball beyond the 17-meter mark (the best result of the season before Madrid was 16.76 m). According to the Lithuanian, he kept failing to deal with his nerves: “I couldn’t deal with my nerves. I was writing my bachelor’s thesis and there was a lot of stress, and all of that was reflected in sports.”

The first place in the shot put event was won by Italian Leonardo Fabbri (21.68 m). As S. Bakanas says, it is impressive to compete with the best European or even world athletes in one sector: “It’s incredible to look closely at the people you follow on social media. It’s a life experience to watch, be and participate with them.”

This year, the athlete hopes to compete in the Universiade, which will take place in Bochum (Germany) on July 21-27. According to the ball pusher, although with small steps, every year he manages to progress, and the next goal is within reach: “I would like to take faster steps, but I am glad that I am moving forward at least a little bit. With such a personal one it is realistic to reach 18 meters. That 18-meter result has been hanging for a long time, but you have to enjoy every victory and go step by step.”

The personal record was also greatly improved by L. Sabaitytė, who covered the 200 m distance in 23.11 seconds. and took 13th place. The previous record for the sprinter was 23.27 seconds. It is impressive that the Spaniard Jael Bestue (22.19 seconds), who triumphed in this event, improved the championship record, and out of 16 participants, three improved the national record, five the personal record and five the season record.

“To be honest, I was expecting a personal record from the very beginning of the season, but as it went wrong, it didn’t work out. Now it’s a blessing that we have finally been able to show what we have been doing and what we have been preparing for with the coach all year,” said L. Sabaitytė, who completed the 200 m in Finland in 23.83 seconds on June 11, and on June 18. In Kaunas, he ran the 200 m in 23.99 seconds.

“Finland had poor weather conditions – windy and cold. Gediminas Truskauskas started there practically during the storm. And in Kaunas, we had no luck with the weather. I think that now both the good weather and the support of the team have contributed a lot. Going to the start today, I thought that I was not ready yet, I was overwhelmed that it was too hot, but everything turned around and came to my advantage,” said the athlete about this summer’s starts in the main event.

On Saturday at Madrid’s Vallehermos Stadium, L. Sabaitytė, together with Andre Ožechauskaitė, Ema Rupšytė and Akvilė Jonauskytė, ran the 4×100 m relay and took 16th place (44.81 seconds, the best result of the Lithuanian season). According to L. Sabaitytė, the not quite successful performance in the relay motivated them to perform better in the main event, and the atmosphere of the Lithuanian team in the championship was excellent:

“We didn’t have the best result and pass the stick, so I couldn’t breathe much before the main start. That relay was really motivating and I am glad that I was able to show such a result. I think we are capable of improving the Lithuanian record (43.95 seconds), especially if Eva Misiūnaitė recovers, we can definitely do it.

The support of the members of the national team is unrealistic, it goes to itself. I hope that in two years everything will stay that way, even though we will be in the lower division.”

L. Sabaitytė, who set a new personal record, also came close to the Lithuanian 200 m race record, which has been held by Agnė Šerkšnienė since 2018 (22.99 seconds). Such a result in Madrid raised the sprinter’s hopes of qualifying for the World Championships in September, and in the Universiade, where the athlete hopes to represent, she wants to fight for a medal: “If we manage to repeat or improve this result, it is the most important start of this year, and at the same time of her career – the World Championships in Tokyo. We need to wait until the end of August to find out the final lists of participants. The Universiade will probably be waiting for you this summer. After today, I’m only thinking about the medal there.”

Olympian G. Truskauskas completed the 200 m in 20.67 seconds, and this result allowed him to take 10th place. The Dutchman Xavi Mo-Ajok triumphed in the race, improving the championship record (20.01 seconds). It was the Lithuanian’s fourth start in the 200 m distance this summer, and G. Truskauskas has not run so fast before it. The results of the previous starts were 20.86 seconds, 20.73 seconds, 21.01 seconds.

“That’s more or less what I expected, because the conditions were super and allowed me to run fast. The girls’ results and Lucretia’s performance were really surprising. There were some doubts about the first trail, because out of ten times, you probably have to run it only once. Due to the weather and competitors, everything was favorable, and the stadium was also cozy,” said G. Truskauskas.

In winter, the athlete improved the Lithuanian 200 m indoor record (20.98 seconds), and since 2021, he has also held the Lithuanian 200 m record (20.48 seconds) achieved in the stadium. According to the sprinter, the latter record can be improved at any time, which is the main goal of this season: “It’s more about how you feel that day. The form and the work are still there, you have to wait for your time and conditions. Everything needs to fall apart. In winter, the season was not bad at all, which made us optimistic about summer. The goal of this summer season has not yet been achieved, but after today I am closer to it. This is exactly Lithuania’s record, which is associated with entering the World Cup. If I consistently demonstrate such a result as a personal record, then there are many chances to get there. We are striving for it as much as possible and I hope that we will be able to achieve the goal.”

The Lithuanian, who participated in the strongest run, said that he was not afraid of the competition, because it is a great opportunity to improve: “Competitors are not strangers, and their level is in the semi-finals or even the final of the European Championship. It is very good to run in such a competition with the strongest rivals, because how else can you improve. You have to learn to run with the competition.”

On June 6, G. Truskauskas together with Kostas Skrabulis, Kristupas Seikauskas and Adas Dambrauskas improved the Lithuanian record of the 4×100 m relay (39.77 seconds), while the previous record stood for as long as 17 years. In this championship, the sprinters also ran the 4×100 m relay, but A. Dambrauskas was replaced by Tomas Keršulis. The newly formed team covered the distance on Saturday in 39.95 seconds. and took 14th place.

“As soon as we improved Lithuania’s record, I said that day that we are better prepared. There was still a lot of reserve, and in this championship we did not run in the line-up with which we improved the record. Still, here you have to play and train together, feel those passes. I would think that we performed quite well in the relay of this championship,” G. Truskauskas reviewed the results of the relay.

We remind you that in the first division, the Lithuanians took the 16th place (178.5 points) and fell to the second division, where they will compete in two years. The Finns, who finished 15th (220.5 points) and the remaining Ukrainians 14th (231 points), also fell to the second division, while the Italians triumphed in the first division for the second time in a row (431.5 points).

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Photo by Alfredas Pliadis