At the European Championships held in Birmingham (UK), as many as 19 Lithuanian light sport athletes performed successfully.Tlets. Among the achievements was the silver medal of discus thrower Mykolas Alekna, and the 4 bronze medals of runner Gabija Galvydytė. in the impressive 800 m final, and javelin thrower Edis Matusevičius (6th place), discus thrower Andrius Gudžius (9th place), and heptathlete Beatričė Juškevičiūtė (10th place) also made it into the top ten. There were more Lithuanian accents at the championship – the walking competition was judged by former national track and field athlete and four-time Olympian Kristina Saltanovič.
A new role
K. Saltanovič’s racewalker’s career, which lasted several decades, was extremely successful. Among the athlete’s achievements are 6th and 7th places at the World Athletics Championships, the same places she had achieved at the European Championships, and she also participated in four Olympic Games – in 2000. Sydney, 2004. In Athens, 2008. In Beijing and London in 2012. Even several years after ending her career, the experienced athlete did not want to distance herself from her life’s passion, so in 2023 she became an international, silver-level “World Athletics” referee.
“It was my post-career dream. I felt that I wanted to stay close to the walk that had been my life for 30 years. It wasn’t easy to switch sides, start refereeing, and sometimes punish colleagues, but I feel that I find it interesting and enjoy it,” says K. Saltanovič.
This year, she received an invitation to become one of the race walking judges at the European Championships in Birmingham. The championships featured relatively new races for walkers – half marathon and marathon. “The invitation to the European Championship was a big surprise because I feel I still lack experience judging large-scale competitions. Still, at the same time, it is a great gain of experience,” the former track and field athlete confides.
Judges without a state
When asked if it’s enjoyable to see Lithuanians competing on the track, K. Saltanovič speaks about the professionalism of the judges. “It is often said that we are judges without a state. We have to be neutral and objectively evaluate the participants’ performances, regardless of whether we know the walker or not. Speaking about the only Lithuanian racewalker in this championship – Austėja Kavaliauskaitė – I had absolutely no complaints about her walking technique,” explains the judge from Lithuania.
However, alongside professionalism, genuine emotions are inevitable. “So far, I haven’t finalized everything; I’m still living with emotions. I am very happy to have had the chance to represent Lithuania again, only this time in a different role,” summarizes former racewalker and judge K. Saltanovič.
To recall, A. Kavaliauskaitė completed the half marathon distance at the European Championships held in Birmingham in 1 hour, 43 minutes, and 16 seconds. and took 25th place.
Photo by Alfredas Pliadis
