Yesterday, the 30-year-old M.J. Morauskaitė, who set this achievement, fell a bit short this time, and her time – 51.72 sec. – placed her 21st in Europe.
She missed the final by 1.41 seconds.
“In my opinion, 10 out of 10,” evaluated M.J. Morauskaitė about her championship. “The goal for today, after yesterday, was to perform as close as possible to yesterday’s result. To see if I can demonstrate the same level two days in a row. As we see, the result is basically the same, those few hundredths do not make a big difference (0.08 sec., note).”
“It’s very nice that my body and psychology are ready to show high results!” the sprinter rejoiced.
– Conditions are simply perfect for sprinting. The heat doesn’t break bones. The level of the girls is something that has definitely never been seen before. European women run completely at the pace of the world championship.
That both pleases me and strongly pushes me to try even harder, to take care of myself even more strictly, to watch even more strictly what works and what doesn’t, and I think this is just an even bigger pain for the coach (laughs).”
“Today I definitely didn’t feel any pressure. I was much calmer. And that excitement was so pleasant. The kind that doesn’t take away strength but gives extra wings, although it was already felt that the legs were definitely not the freshest. I knew it was the same at the Olympics, where I didn’t feel fresh on the second day, but I ran and the result was better. I realized that I shouldn’t pay attention. Of course, experience counts. I stepped onto the stadium and told myself to enjoy the moment, to take everything in, because it really doesn’t last long,” the athlete philosophically reflected.
We remind you that yesterday in the qualifiers M.J. Morauskaitė crushed her personal season record by more than a second – she ran 51.64 sec.
Understand instantly
M.J. Morauskaitė also holds the Lithuanian 400 m running record – 50.49 sec., set in 2022.
In European championships, she placed 27th in 2014 in Zurich (55.87 sec.), 18th in 2018 in Munich (52.68 sec.), and in 2022 again in Munich and 2024 in Rome she ran in the semifinals, finishing 13th (51.70 sec.) and 23rd (52.95 sec.) respectively.
A week before the championship, she said a fateful “yes” – got engaged to Ernestas Leskauskas, head of the “Cosma” athletics club, and before the semifinal start showed a sparkling ring to the “Alexander” stands.
“I myself will still have at least a few starts this season. On August 24, the qualification for next year’s world championship begins, so I would like to get a few results into the ranking so that next year I can be a bit calmer, not rush, and focus on the world championship,” said M.J. Morauskaitė.
The women’s 400 m final will take place on Saturday at 22:10.
In the semifinals, the fastest were Polish Natalia Bukowiecka (49.57 sec.), Dutch Lieke Klaver (49.71 sec.), and Norwegian Henriette Jæger (49.80 sec.).
