Victoria Hudson travelled to the European Athletics Championships as the best in Europe this year and will leave Rome as European champion. The 28-year-old triumphed in the javelin throw on Tuesday with 64.62 m. For Austria it was the second medal at these continental championships after Lukas Weißhaidinger’s silver in the discus throw and the 13th for the ÖLV overall. Silver went to Serbian Adriana Vilagos (64.42), bronze to Norwegian Marie-Therese Obst (63.50).
At an unusually late hour for her as an early bedtimer, Hudson had promised her family, English grandparents and friends that she would be “mentally and physically fully there”. After Hudson had only improved the Austrian record she held to 66.06 m on May 22nd, the minimum goal of improving on her tenth place from the 2022 European Championships in Munich sounded like an understatement. However, Hudson had never before been in the situation of having to be the top favorite.
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And she mastered the test brilliantly, winning the first ÖLV gold at a European Championship since Ilona Gusenbauer in the high jump in Helsinki in 1971, and the third overall. While Hudson had saved energy in the qualification, coming fifth with 60.15 m, she hurled the 600 gram javelin to 64.62 m in her first attempt in the final, a height that was unattainable for the others that evening.
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Image: GEPA pictures/ Patrick Steiner
Source: Nachrichten
