Neele Eckhardt-Noack just missed out on a medal in the triple jump at the home European Championships in Munich.
The 30-year-old jumped 14.43 m in the Olympic Stadium and finished fourth – two centimeters more would have been enough for bronze.
“It was a mega series from me, but somehow the outlier was missing. Nevertheless, I will look at it with two smiling eyes on Saturday,” said Eckhardt-Noack in the “ZDF” interview.
Gold went to Maryna Bech-Romantschuk with a European annual best of 15.02 m. The Ukrainian had finished fourth in the long jump 24 hours earlier and had cried bitterly afterwards. Now Bech-Romanchuk celebrated the first gold for war-torn Ukraine at this European Athletics Championship.
Finland’s Kristiina Mäkelä won silver with a new national record (14.64), Hanna Minenko from Israel won bronze with 14.45 m. Eckhardt-Noack gave everything again in the last attempt in the onset of rain, but it wasn’t to be.
Eckhardt-Noack had hoped for a medal after her strong qualification. On Wednesday she flew 14.53 m and was only eight centimeters below the German record (14.61) set by Kristin Gierisch. Leverkusen, Vice European Champion 2018 in Berlin, and Jessie Maduka (Wattenscheid) missed the final.