The 33-year-old Italian, Dariya Derkach, finally gets gold with a PB leap of 14.60m to take a confident win and European lead.
In summary
- Derkach sets out dominant performance to take gold
- Saliyya Guisse took Belgium’s second medal of the championships
- Aleksandra Nacheva took bronze with just one valid jump
Before Thursday (13) Derkach had never taken an international title, her best result was silver at the Istanbul 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships, but finally at her sixth European Athletics Championships she takes gold.
She started her series with a big 14.53m (+2.1 m/s), which would have been enough to take gold on it’s own as Belgium’s Saliyya Guisse took silver with 14.46m (+2.4 m/s).
In the second round Derkach backed up her leading jump with another would-be-winner of 14.48m to show her dominance early in the competition.
While Bulgaria’s Aleksandra Nacheva jumped 14.40m (+3.4 m/s) after a no jump in the first round in what would be her only valid jump amongst the changing wind speeds.
But it was the fourth round that Derkach flew to 14.60m, solidifying herself as untouchable on the night to break her PB after three years and set a new European lead.
It was also in the fourth round that Guisse jumped her best jump to move ahead of the Bulgarian with just two rounds remaining.
Now with the winds dying down, no athlete improved in the fifth or sixth round and the medallists were set with a podium no one would have predicted.
Derkach was the only athlete from the top eight based on season’s bests to make the podium, with Guisse putting an incredible nearly 40cm on her PB at 30-years-old to take silver.
It is also Nacheva’s first senior medal having taken silver at the European U18 and U20 championships and world U18 championships, as well as gold at the 2018 world U20 championships.
What they said…
Dariya Derkach: “I am just happy to have this medal and cannot believe it. It will take some time to realise what just happened. The PB is the cherry on the top. Finally, I got it. This was so hard. The journey towards this medal was so difficult. I had to fight a lot of pain and lots of struggles. But inside me, some flame was still burning. I was waiting for so long for this moment. Last year was very hard for me - I had a tendon injury. The most beautiful thing was that I can train now without a pain. I had pain in my tendon for four to five year.”
Saliyya Guisse: “I want to scream and I want to cry at the same time. This silver medal means the world to me. On the one hand, I want it all to sink in, but on the other hand I don't want it to. I just don't know how to feel or what to think, this is completely insane. It is incredible. At first, the Belgian federation didn't even select me for these championships. Right now, I have a European silver medal - that is insane. I am a very competitive person and when I got selected I really wanted to go and show I could win a medal. During my last jump, I already knew that I would have the silver, but I didn’t want to give up yet as you never know what can happen. I just wanted to go for the highest possible step on that podium. On the other hand, it was difficult to comprehend what was going on. I found it hard to actually concentrate for that last jump. That doesn't matter because I have a silver medal, one I probably didn't even expect. I think this medal goes to show that triple jump deserves to be viewed in a different light in Belgium and by the Belgian federation, it needs to get far more attention and to be taken seriously. In each and every competition in this event, anything can happen and that is exactly what I have showed here. This medal is a family medal - my parents, my boyfriend and sister are all part of this medal. I will go and party tonight - I have already started partying and will not stop.”