Between names such as Femke Bol and Lieke Klaver and Brabant top athletes such as Niels Laros, Cathelijn Peeters and Eveline Saalberg, the name Fabian Biondina stands out. The 24-year-old athlete from Bergen op Zoom will debut this weekend at the European Championship for Land Teams in Madrid. He is one of the best long jumpers in the Netherlands, but also the best hopping jumper. The latter sport appears to be physically a big challenge. “I still have muscle pain in places that I didn’t even know that I was using those muscles.”
At the European Championships for Country Teams, the best sixteen European countries from Friday 27 to Sunday 29 June compete against each other. There are seventeen individual disciplines and the relay parts 4×100 meters and the 4×400 mixed. Fabian Biondina represents TeamNL at the hopping jump.
“I am super happy and proud that I can put on the Orange outfit for the first time. I have never been selected in the youth. I do realize that I am a little lucky that I have no world topper as a competitor in the Netherlands. But on the other hand: I do and leave a lot for it.”
Spring was his favorite sport for a long time. In 2022 he took his first Dutch title. The Bergenaar decided to take a gap year of his studies to focus on the sport. “But that didn’t work super well. If I had a bad job once, it remained in my mind. It’s nice to be busy with other things. Now I am doing my Masters in Medical Psychology next to it, a good combination.”
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Fabian also did hop jump, but less often than long -standing. “That’s because it’s such a heavy sport. You would think that jumping comes out of your legs, but your whole body gets blows. I see that the load capacity is getting better and better.”
This year he took his first national indoor title at the hop jump jump. “My trainer said for a long time that I am a better hop step jumper in terms of athletic profile. My speed when I jumped is a little less, but I make that good on that. I can get more out of my strength when I have expected. At the NK it went better than I expected. It is not that I will throw everything on a hopping jump, but I will do it more.”
“My goal is to jump 16 meters.”
Storming the world top is not a goal of the Bergenaar. “If I am very honest, I don’t know if it will ever be possible to get to the top eight of a final tournament. I am still quite far from it now. My goal is to jump 16 meters, that is only one athlete (Fabian Florant, ed.). I am now on 15.67 meters, but see that there is improvement in it.”
His first goal is to leave a good impression during the European Championship. “There are strong competitors, but I feel like starting.” Whether he should sing a song like a debutant with the Dutch national team? “I don’t know if that is also the case with athletics. If necessary, then Guus Meeuwis. I’m a Brabander, isn’t it?”
There are more people from Brabanders who participate in the European Championship: Eveline Saalberg from Vessem (800 meters), Cathelijn Peeters from Dongen (400 meters hurdles), Niels Laros from Oosterhout (5000 meters), Ryan Jansen from Made (Speerwerpen), Anne van de Wiel (4×100 meters).