Never before has Belgium brought home so many medals from a European Athletics Indoor Championships. Five Belgians stepped onto the podium in Toruń!
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It was obviously not a surprise to see Nafissatou Thiam on the top step of the podium, so dominant is our Olympic champion in the combined events. But no one was expecting a historic double in this pentathlon (60m hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 800m in the same day). And it was the young Noor Vidts who achieved a great performance by winning silver, her first medal on the international stage.
In the 1,500 meters, Elise Vanderelst was ecstatic after a tactically intelligent race that allowed her to put on a long final sprint to win the European title in the discipline.
Following these three female champions, two male athletes also distinguished themselves on the track in Toruń (Poland). Thomas Carmoy cleared a height of 2.26m in the high jump. This performance resulted in a bronze medal for the young athlete from Pont-à-Celles, who was competing in his first major championships at the age of 21. Isaac Kimeli completed the Belgian medal haul with a second place finish in the 3,000 metres final.
Gery Follens, head of the Belgian delegation, made no attempt to mask his pride, "This is an unexpected result. We are ahead of countries like Germany, Spain and France in the medal rankings."
Our athletes' medal dreams are now focused on the Tokyo Olympics!
