On Sunday, the 15th European U23 Athletics Championships ended in Bergen (Norway). The four-day competition was crowned by the silver medal of Rugilė Miklyčiūtė , and Elzė Kudulytė , who made her debut in the championship, achieved the second best result of her career and took ninth place. It was these track and field athletes who performed the best among Lithuanians, and a total of 18 of our athletes participated in the championship.
A tenacious fight, jumps and records that are better than each other – this is how the final of the girls’ pole vault could be described. In a real thriller, R. Miklyčiūtė overcame a height of 4.35 m and once again improved the Lithuanian record. It is impressive that this is already the 16th record improved by Lithuanian track and field athletes this year. True, the road to the record was long – R. Miklyčiūtė overcame the heights of 3.95 m and 4.10 m on the first attempt, the height of 4.20 m obeyed with the third jump, she managed to repeat the Lithuanian record (4.30 m) on the first attempt, and improve (4.35 m) on the second.
“First of all, I would like to thank coach Rita Sadzevičienė , because, as I mentioned after qualifying, I needed that interview. Without him, I think I wouldn’t have managed psychologically. I really feel very wonderful. Today the body listened to me perfectly. I’m very happy that today was the peak – both running well and closing down. Maybe there were a few technical minuses, but running and closing really saved me,” R. Miklyčiūtė shared her hot emotions.
The athlete said that there was not much panic before the third 4.20 m attempt, and R. Miklyčiūtė did not attach importance to another national record, or more precisely, she forgot about it altogether: “During the first two attempts, I felt a lot of pressure, and before the third I told myself that I could overcome this height. If I do everything right, I will overcome it. I relaxed at it. To be honest, I even forgot that I set the Lithuanian record, but that’s really gratifying. I wanted those 4.40 m, but maybe it’s not the time yet.”
The successful jumps of the Lithuanian were accompanied by applause and screams of the athlete herself, which conveyed the emotions she was experiencing. In addition, the European vice-champion paid tribute to E. Kudulytė, who not only supported, but also forced and will force her to stretch again in the future: “I am really happy, but it is very difficult to convey those emotions. It seems that all the blood is boiling in the sector and everything is no longer important. You want to scream and convey the energy you have to everyone. I want to thank Elze, who made a very successful debut in this European Championship. I’m happy for her. I think that in the future we will fight and drag each other higher.”
The gold medal in this event was won by the Czech Viktorie Ondrova (4.45 m), who improved her personal record, and Rugilė shared the second place with the German Chiara Sistermann (4.35 m), who repeated the personal record. This is the second silver medal of the Lithuanian at the Old Continent Championship, and R. Miklyčiūtė won the first one in 2023 at the European U20 Championship. When asked to compare these medals, the athlete considered the award she has just won to be more important: “I think the U23 silver is sweeter, because the fight was really felt and I still had a teammate by my side. It’s this sweeter medal.”
E. Kudulytė, who started in the first European Championship of her career, overcame a height of 4.10 m in the final. We remind you that on Friday the pole vaulter set a personal record (4.15 m).
“I think it really went well. I was a little hesitant and doubted whether I would overcome the starting height (3.95 m) because three weeks ago I had only jumped this height once in my life – it was scary. I knew I could jump and I jumped. After that, I jumped 4.10 m, which is the second result of my career. I think this competition was used to a lot and I took everything I could. Ninth place in the final is in front of my eyes. I’m very happy with myself and I’m still very happy with Rugilė. I stayed in the sector until the very end and suffered for it. I am very happy that she succeeded,” said E. Kudulytė, who is also coached by R. Sadzevičienė.
The athlete came to this championship with a personal record of 4.05 m, which she managed to record only at the beginning of July. According to E. Kudulytė, the personal record achieved the day before yesterday should be improved sooner or later, and there was more excitement in the final than in the qualification: “We still need to work a little bit on technique and emotions. I think that this personal record will probably fall next season.
There was a little more excitement today, although everyone said that the excitement should be during qualifying, and in the final you have to enjoy everything. It turned out a bit the opposite, because I was in the qualification with the last result, so I didn’t have any big goals for myself at that time. When I made it to the final and saw the starting height, I thought I had to at least jump it. Then that fear appeared, but everything worked out, so I’m glad about that.”
A total of 29 pole vaulters competed in the championship, and E. Kudulytė’s result before the competition was the last: “I probably wouldn’t have believed that I would take such a place. As I said, I came with the last result, I went up over 20 places, it just happened something amazing.”
In the championship medal standings, the Lithuanian national team took 25th place, and the best performance was performed by the Germans, who won 26 medals (5 gold).
In total, Lithuanians have won 6 gold, 4 silver and 5 bronze medals in the history of the European U23 Championships. The next Old Continent Championships will take place on July 22-25, 2027 in Bydgoszcz (Poland).
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Photo by Alfredas Pliadis
