European Championships in Rome

Hudson fights for the final, Vojta now record man

Victoria Hudson and Andreas Vojta

(Bild: ÖLV / Nevsmal, Vienna City Marathon)

Austria's men's half marathon team put in a respectable performance at the European Championships in Rome, finishing ninth in the team rankings. Andi Vojta set a special "European record" with his seventh European Championship participation. No athlete has competed in more European Championships than the Lower Austrian. And: On Monday, Austria's second hot medal hopeful, Victoria Hudson, will take part in the European Championships ...

The "Krone" reports from Rome

After the sensational silver medal of discus hero Lukas Weißhaidinger, the Lower Austrian, who leads the European annual best list in the javelin throw with 66.06 m, will compete in her qualification. She will start in Group A at 10.25 a.m., with 60.50 m required for direct progression to the final. It would have to be the devil's own doing if she did not reach the final of the twelve best on Tuesday evening ...

Victoria Hudson, who finished a surprising fifth at last year's World Championships in Budapest, is a hot medal candidate, at least on paper. Unlike in the men's discus throw, where all but one of the world's top throwers are based in Europe, the European level is weaker in the women's javelin throw. Which of course does not diminish the class of the Lower Austrian! Like Weißhaidinger, Hudson is also coached by Gregor Högler. He is obviously coping well with this double burden ...

"A medal would be a dream!"
 Hudson wants to continue the great Austrian tradition in this classic athletics discipline in Rome. She joins the list of big names, led of course by Olympic champion Herma Bauma. It is quite conceivable that she will be the second Austrian after Herma Bauma (silver in 1950) to win a European Championship medal in the women's javelin throw in Rome on the evening of June 12.

With eight final places, the women's javelin throw is one of the most successful disciplines for the ÖLV at the European Championships. In addition to Herma Bauma's silver medal, Erika Strasser (sixth in 1962, eighth in 1966) and Eva Janko (ninth in 1974, tenth in 1966) also achieved top places at the European Championships.

Like Herma Bauma once did?
"Of course I know that there were great names in the Austrian women's javelin throw before me," says Victoria Hudson. Unlike many athletes, she knows the history of her own discipline very well. After all, a Herma Bauma memorial stone in front of the entrance to the Federal Training Center regularly reminds her of Austria's only Olympic athletics champion to date. Herma Bauma, Eva Janko? She is familiar with them. She knows she has the potential to follow in the footsteps of these greats. "But I'm not putting any pressure on myself. At least I'm starting in Rome with great self-confidence. It's certainly a big dream to win a medal at a European Championship like Herma Bauma once did."

Hinterndorfer the best
The men's team finished in the top ten in the half marathon in ninth place. The best Austrian in the individual classification was Timo Hinterdorfer, who finished 32nd in a strong 1:04:27 in the difficult conditions. He was joined in the team classification by Andi Vojta in 42nd place (1:05:38) on his 35th birthday and Peter Herzog in 49th place (1:06:07). Mario Bauernfeind finished 54th and Dominik Stadlmann 57th.

Timo Hinterndorfer

(Bild: Vienna City Marathon)

Hinterndorfer said: "The race was very okay, even if it wasn't rhythmic. It wasn't easy to run the half marathon in the heat." Vojta was of course not very happy with his time, but admitted that "we were lucky with the weather". In the morning it was at least still a little cloudy, so the sun wasn't beating down completely on the Italian capital as it had been on the previous days. However, he celebrated a small anniversary on his birthday. He has competed at the European Championships seven times in a row since 2010. According to European Athletics, he has now drawn level with several other athletes in the statistics. But no one has achieved more European Championship starts...

Mayer "insanely happy"
 Julia Mayer finished 36th in the women's race in 1:12:40 hours. "The race was a rollercoaster of emotions. But overall it was a solid run." Sometimes it went well, then at other times relatively badly. But at the end of the day, she was "insanely happy". The countdown to the Games in Paris is going "according to plan". "Everything is geared towards the Olympics."

Julia Mayer

(Bild: Olaf Brockmann)

European Athletics Championships:

Men: 400 m hurdles, preliminary round: 2nd heat: 7th Köhldorfer 51.52 (eliminated)

Half marathon:

Men: 1st Crippa (Ita) 1:01:03, 2nd Riva (Ita) 1:01:04, 3rd Petros (D) 1:01:07, 32nd Hinterndorfer 1:04:27, 42nd Vojta 1:05:38, 49th Herzog 1:06:07, 54th Bauernfeind 1:08:03, 57th Stadlmann 1:09:03.

Women: 1st Grövdal (Nor) 1:08:09, 36th Mayer 1:12:40