During the European Team Athletics Championships in Chorzow, Belgian shot putter Jolien Boumkwo was forced to compete in the 100-meter hurdles as a makeshift 100-meter hurdle specialist. Although she is not used to participating in that event, Boumkwo was all smiles despite the obvious difficulties she faced in clearing the hurdles. She completed the distance in 32 seconds and 81 hundredths, finishing last in her heat, while Spain’s Teresa Errandonea won the heat with a time of 13.22 seconds.
Boumkwo had to replace her compatriot Anne Zagré, who is a hurdles specialist. There were no other hurdlers available on the Belgian team, and if no one had competed in that event, the team would have been disqualified from the European Championships. Despite the difficulties, Boumkwo decided to participate in order to avoid disqualification of the team, as she felt that the most important thing was the team itself.
The 29-year-old explained that she took no risks and ran calmly, as her main goal was to make sure the team did not lose by one point. Boumkwo, known for her achievements in the hammer throw and shot put, had finished in seventh place in the shot put event at the European Team Championships the day before.
After 25 of the 37 events on the program and before the final day, Belgium is in 16th place and last in the overall standings, which puts it at risk of relegation to the second continental division. The Belgian team has accumulated 159 points so far, and the two points contributed by Boumkwo in the 100-meter hurdles, despite his last place, have been valuable for the team.