Ukrainian athlete Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk takes silver at 2023 World Cup
Ukrainian athlete Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk has won a silver medal in the triple jump for the first time in her career. Her award was the first for Ukraine at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
Source: Suspilne. Sport
Details: Suspilne.Sport noted that the main favourite in the final was Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas, who had consistently won gold at the three previous championships in 2017-2022. World number three Shanieka Ricketts from Jamaica and this year's Diamond League leader from Cuba, Leyanis Perez Hernandez, also made it to the final. The current bronze medallist, Tori Franklin, withdrew from the tournament before it started.
Bekh-Romanchuk jumped 15 metres on her first attempt, showing the second-best result in her career and her personal best of the season. The starting jump brought the Ukrainian into intermediate first place.
The athlete performed her second jump at 14.81 metres. She remained first in the standings, with Perez coming closest to her (14.96).
After she fouled in her first attempt, favourite Rojas jumped only 14.33 metres in her second attempt and was in an intermediate eighth place going into the third round.
Bekh-Romanchuk's 15 metres remained out of contention after five attempts. Only in the sixth jump was the Ukrainian surpassed by Yulimar Rojas, who jumped 15.08 metres.
In her last attempt, the Ukrainian fouled, finishing the tournament with silver.
2023 WORLD CUP. Women's triple jump – final:
- Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela) 15.08 metres
- Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk (Ukraine) 15.00
- Leyanis Perez Hernandez (Cuba) 14.96
Bekh-Romanchuk told Suspilne. Sport that she was determined to win, and even after her opponent's outstanding last attempt, she was ready to cling to her debut world title.
Quote from Bekh-Romanchuk: "I am very nervous. I feel like I've spent half my life in the sector today. It was very tense. I tried to show all the tension in the jumps, and it was very difficult for me today. It was difficult in terms of how to set myself up correctly, concentrate and transfer what I could into a result. And it was a very intense competition, with very close results – all the girls fought very hard for medals."
"I could have done more. I could do more; I was ready for more, and I felt it. Somewhere, for some specific reasons, it didn't work out a little bit, and I failed to show this result in the fifth or sixth attempt.
But today I could jump; I could win. I was ready for it; I felt it; it just didn't work out a little bit. But I thank God for what I have; it is a very precious medal for me, and I have come a very, very long way to get it.
I just want to thank all those people who worked with me, who believed in me, supported me and stood by me to the very end. When it seemed to me that everything was just falling apart and it would be a complete mess, they believed in me and stood by me to the very end. Because I had a very large team involved in treating me, and putting me back on my feet. When my legs were all wrapped up, everything hurt, everyone was there for me and believed to the last that I would make it."
More details: Bekh-Romanchuk also told us what Yulimar Rojas was thinking after her winning jump.
"I knew she was going to do it. I don't know if it should have just been a bucket of luck today, so that in her last attempt she would have stepped behind the line or something. But, let's say, I could have fought. I could have improved my result in the last attempt, but I had so much desire that I just squeezed that attempt – and that's it. It's okay; we have to work on it."
For reference: At the 2023 World Championships, the Ukrainian started with the long jump tournament. With three steps behind the line, the 2019 vice champion sensationally failed to reach the final and was preparing for her other tournament, the triple jump.
Maryna has been competing at the top level in the triple jump since 2022. Despite this, she has already managed to become the Euro 2022 champion in this discipline and win gold at the 2023 European Games and seven medals at the Diamond League stages.
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