Spain’s Jael Bestue thrilled the packed stands of the Estadio Vallehermoso by winning the women’s 200m at Madrid 2025 on Sunday (29) in a stunning new championship record and national record of 22.19 (+0.8).
The Madrid 2025 European Athletics Team Championships 1st Division is live streamed on the European Athletics website courtesy of the Eurovision Sport Platform.
Bestue slashed 0.35 off her existing personal best and obliterated Sandra Myers’s national record which had stood since 1991 by the handsome margin of 0.19. It was also a new European lead set on the CONICA track that is delivering records galore.
Drawn on the outside in lane eight the Spaniard, who had already played a role in the 4x100s national record set on Saturday, set off like a bullet to be at the helm from the early stages ahead of France’s Helene Parisot and Germany’s Sophia Junk.
They chased the Spaniard throughout the home straight, but Bestue never faltered to cross the finish line clear of her chasers. The French athlete took second in 22.42 and Junk clocked 22.53 to also set respective massive lifetime bests.
Mo-Ajok adds 200m win to 4x100m success
The men’s event witnessed the emphatic win of the 22-year-old Xavi Mo-Ajok of the Netherlands, also fresh off a 4x100 victory yesterday. It was Italy’s Eseosa Desalu who kicked-off quickest from the blocks but the Dutch sprinter soon gained the lead closely followed by the Italian and Great Britain’s Paris 2024 Olympic 4x400m bronze medallist Toby Harries.
Entering the home straight Mo-Ajok led by a couple of metres, there was no catching him and he romped home in style to shatter his previous lifetime best by the huge margin of 0.36 as he clocked a scintillating 20.01 aided by an favoiurable tailwind of 1.8m/s.
In addition to his career best, Mo-Ajok was rewarded with a championships record and a 2025 European lead. Desalu finished second in a season’s best of 20.18 and Harries was third in 20.25.