Pedro Pichardo’s victory in the triple jump was decisive in placing Portugal in the “top 25” of the Eugenio Athletics World Championships medal table, standing out in an unequal selection and renewal “to be fulfilled”.
Portugal ranks 22nd in the medal table and 26th in the points tablewith 16, an improvement over the records for the next few years.
Clearly facing Doha 2019, the Portuguese scored in the top eight also with Patrícia Mamona (eighth in the triple), Liliana Cá (fifth in the record) and Auriol Dongmo (sixth in the weight).
With 16 points, the Portuguese delegation surpasses the 13 of Qatar and is in line with the 17 of London 2017, the best record of the last 10 years. The 34 points from Atenas’97, which gave him 14th place, seem “unattainable” for a team aged to the level of the best athletes.
Pedro Pichardo, 29, is the only one of the “aces” who did not enter the 30: Mamona is 33, Cá 35 and Dongmo 31.
In the march, Ana Cabecinha, who sixth time in a row entered the top ten, is 38 years old. And the medalists from previous editions, João Vieira and Inês Henriques, are 42 and 46 years old, respectively.
For the first time, Portugal presented itself without an athlete to attend the marathons. In the 17 previous editions there were always marathonershighlighting the gold ones by Rosa Mota and Manuela Machado.
Even in the lower middle part, the renewal seems uncertain, however, Eugene sees Mariana Machado breaks her personal record in the 5,000 meters, national sub-23, and enters the Portuguese top-10 in history. The case of the daughter of former Olympic athlete Albertina Machado stands out for its positive aspects in a sector that is no longer the most prominent in the national team.
Now the jumps and throws are on the rise.
Pichardo equaled Évora’s record and Mamona repeated the position from three years ago. For the first time, Portugal had two men in the triple final, with Tiago Pereira in tenth place.
In the discus throw, Liliana Cá equaled Teresa Machado’s sixth position, while Auriol Dongmo led Portugal to the shot put final for the first time.
Note also the unusual sequence of participations of João Vieira, who, between 1999 and 2022, added 12 World Cups. Better than him, with 13, only one other marches, the Spanish Jesús Ángel García.
The 18th edition of the world championship in athletics ended on Sunday in Eugene, in the US state of Oregon, where Portugal once again won a gold medal, five years after Inês Henriques’ triumph in the 50km walk.
At Doha2019, only João Vieira stood on the podium, taking silver from him in the now-defunct 50km walk.
On Saturday, Pichardo claimed Portugal’s seventh gold medal, joining Rosa Mota and Manuela Machado (marathon), Fernanda Ribeiro (10,000m), Carla Sacramento (1,500m), Nelson Évora (triple jump) and Inês Henriques (walk 50 km) , and 23 in total — the fifth in the triple, after the four of Nelson Évora.
Source: Observadora
