On Thursday, three Lithuanian athletes competed at the Tosche Proeski National Stadium in Skopje (North Macedonia). 17-year-old sprinters Martynas Kolupaila and Ieva Šadžiūtė competed in the semi-finals of the 200 m distance. M. Kolupaila, who covered the distance in 21.89 seconds, finished 12th in the final standings, while I. Šadžiūtė again improved her personal record – 24.63 seconds, but this did not open the door to the final for her. The Lithuanian took the 14th place.

“I am very positive about Ieva’s performance. The sprinter even improved her personal record twice, and she had also improved her personal result in half the 100 m distance. When a person improves personal records, it means that he has strength for sure.

Martynas was a little short of the personal record. So I wouldn’t rate his performance very well, but good – he showed really stable results. What they are capable of in Lithuania, they have shown here,” commented the head of the Lithuanian athletics team Gintautas Janušauskas.

16-year-old pole vaulter Simonas Gansiniauskas took the 16th place – 4 m 15 cm.

“Simonas was a bit disappointed, but the guy burned his fingers during the warm-up just before the race, due to friction with the pole. What you will do, here is also part of the competition. The coach was pointing fingers, we tried to improve the situation. His personal record is 4 m 70 cm, and today I managed to beat only the 4 m 15 cm bar,” G. Janušauskas lamented.

Speaking about the hard-to-bear heat in North Macedonia, G. Janušauskas said: “For us, as coaches, it is very hot and doing nothing. Although it is very hot, the weather conditions do not particularly bother the sprinters, it has a greater impact on longer distances and endurance sports. The conditions are the same for everyone.”

LNOC information

Photo by Rokas Snarskis.