Agate de Sousa gained Portugal’s third medal on the European Championships

In 2021, Agate de Sousa couldn’t go away Portugal to compete overseas as a result of, after that, they’d not let her in. He had been within the nation for 2 years, finding out economics and doing gymnastics, however his motion was restricted as a result of he didn’t have Portuguese nationality. For her, born in São Tomé and Príncipe, issues moved slowly. However she continued to fly additional and additional and, together with her naturalization accomplished, 5 years after her arrival in Portugal, and with the permission of the World Athletics in hand, Agate de Sousa entered with a bang within the honor of Portuguese sport, by receiving the bronze medal. on the final day of the European Athletics Championships in Rome.

This was Portugal’s third medal at these Europeans, after Liliana Cá’s bronze within the discus and Pedro Pichardo’s silver within the triple, however with the distinction that this was obtained proper on her first journey in main competitions. The Benfica athlete had already left good marks in qualifying and was credited with a private file of seven.03m (which is a São Tomé file), and she or he didn’t disappoint in her entry to the highest flight . He by no means stopped being in a podium place (and even main the competitors) and was very near his greatest, securing the medal with 6.91m.

The Portuguese jumper opened the ultimate with 6.87m and was the person main the competitors after the primary spherical of jumpers. She misplaced the highest place to the favorite, Germany’s Malaika Mihambo, who made the one two jumps within the ultimate over seven meters (7.22m and seven.04m) and was additionally overtaken by France’s Hilary Kpatcha ( a brand new private better of 6.88m ), however Agate recovered with 6.91m within the third check.

The opposite German jumper on this ultimate, Mikaelle Assani was the primary to threaten Portugal’s place, with 6.91m within the third check, however Agate benefited from the second greatest bounce (6.87m in comparison with 6.70 a.m. for the Germans). The Italian Larissa Iapichino was the one who did greater than threaten, who jumped 6.94m within the final check and took silver. The athlete educated by Mário Aníbal, who remains to be the decathlon file holder in Portugal, was now not in a position to reply, however he held on to a superb bronze medal.

With the efficiency of Agate de Sousa, the most effective possibilities for Portugal once more with a powerful presence within the ladies’s race are confirmed, as not seen for the reason that days of Naide Gomes, who was additionally from São Tomé Agate has already secured a spot within the Video games Paris Olympics, however this mark achieved in Rome introduced him nearer to the nationwide file of Naide (7.12m), who was twice the second in Europe in size and the indoor world champion in lengthy and within the heptathlon.

His growth has been wonderful. In 2019, when he moved to Portugal, his greatest mark was 6.05m. She started her coaching with Mário Aníbal on the Fátima Athletic Group and confirmed skill in a number of occasions, however with a transparent bias in direction of horizontal jumps. In 2023, in a event in Germany, he went over seven meters for the primary time, at a time when he was already representing Benfica. Now, he already has a medal in main competitions and he desires extra.

Isaac out of the conflict

This final day of the European Championships in Rome promised good issues for the Portuguese delegation and that promise was solely partially fulfilled, as the opposite contender for the rostrum, Isaac Nader, to complete within the ultimate of 1500m. The Portuguese athlete was all the time in a great place till the final lap and even tried a ultimate acceleration on the flip to the end straight, however he ran out of gasoline within the final meters and completed tenth (3m34.22s), maybe feeling the hassle of the semi-final, by which he suffered a fall. As for the winner, it was the Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen, with none debate, with 3m31.95s, a brand new championship file.

Nader was the final of the Portuguese who was concerned on the final day of those competitions. Earlier than this, aside from Agate de Sousa, there was a Portuguese presence within the 4x400m ultimate, with the quartet made up of Ricardo dos Santos, Ericsson Tavares, João Coelho and Omar Elkhatib ending in sixth place , with a brand new nationwide file (3m01.89s).