Dipper Guurtje Praasterink has reached the final in the tower jumping (10 meters) section at the World Championships in Budapest. The 19-year-old Praasterink makes his debut at the highest level and qualified eleventh (out of twelve) for the final.
In the preliminary round Praasterink got 287.70 points and in the semifinals 289.90 points. She finished tenth at the World Junior Championships in December last year.
Unexpected
Having fun, that was the key to reaching the final, Praasterink said on NPO Radio 1 at NOS Along the Line† “I thought, I’m going there to have fun and then I’ll see where I get. I didn’t expect it to go so well.”
Praasterink, who comes from Eindhoven, trains at the University of Louisville in the American state of Indiana. There she says with her coach that she has “worked very hard to perform in competitions as well as in training.” That is already paying off. Are we already thinking about Olympic participation?
“You can’t qualify this year yet, but hopefully you can next year or the year after that,” says Praasterink. “That would be really cool.”
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