It feels like yesterday that Bulgaria’s Ivet Lalova was storming down the home straight to claim the European 100m title in Helsinki 2012.
Her emotional response in Finland showed how much these championships mean to her. With the Bulgarian flag draped around her shoulders and tears of joy pouring down her face.
She had placed well on multiple occasions but this was the first major title of her career.
Two years on, she’s in Zurich as the defending champion and with a real chance of repeating her performance from Finland.
“I can’t wait for the championships, if things go the way I have planned then I will be in top form for them,” she said.
She is ranked third on the European rankings with 11.10 from the Gavardo meeting on 18 May and has been saving her best for these championships.
“This was my fastest season opener, but I still have to work hard to keep my best for August,” Lalova told European Athletics days after her performance.
The Bulgarian athlete also secured big points for her country at the European Athletics Team Championships Second League in Riga in June, with two first place positions in the 100m and the 200m.
She did the same for her Enka Sport Kulubu club, at the European Champion Clubs Cup in Villareal de Santo Antonio. As usual Lalova makes a point of competing for her club as it’s already her fourth participation in this competition.
This year she decided to skip the indoor season to preserve energy for when it matters most. “I think this was a wise decision because I feel rested and I started pushing my body over longer distances in training, so I’m more confident for the 200m,” she revealed.
Lalova has been entered in both the 100m and 200m events where she will be facing the likes of Dafne Schippers the European leader over both distances and Myriam Soumaré the 200m champion from Barcelona 2010.
At 30, Lalova is now a seasoned sprinter and is well respected for her professionalism ever since she stepped onto the senior stage back in 2004.
That season she set the sixth fastest 100m time in history with 10.77 from the European Cup First League in Plovdiv.
She then took fourth place at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, and at the age of 20 was deemed one of the most promising young athletes in the sport.
In 2005 she was crowned 200m European indoor champion but unfortunately, later that year, Lalova's career was interrupted when she broke her right femur after a collision with another athlete while warming up for a race.
The following year she was appointed to the 2006-2010 European Athletics Athhletes’ Commission, a role that she took to heart. She is once again running for election which takes place during the championships this week in Zurich.
She made her return to competition in June 2007 after nearly two years away from sprinting.
It took Lalova time to regain her former glory and she decided make a change and train with the sprinting group coached by Roberto Bonomi in Italy.
This switch was beneficial as she started posting excellent results. She won the Diamond League meeting in Oslo with 11.01 and followed that up with 10.96, the second fastest time of her career, at the Balkan Championships which were held in her home country of Bulgaria.
This was the perfect springboard for Helsinki 2012, but according to Lalova, we have not seen the best of her.
“My coach told me it would take 4-5 years to develop my running style and find my true potential, and now I’m entering my fourth year with this group.”
We look forward to seeing how this all translates onto the track in Zurich where a quick time is to be expected from the Bulgarian.
“I want to bring back medals and good memories from Zurich, but most importantly, I want to leave everything out there on the track and have no regrets.”