Brett Wermann won the silver medal in the high jump at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Istanbul. The 19-year-old reached a height of 1.96, which equaled her record in the Netherlands. In doing so she outlasted all of the finalists, with the exception of favorite Yaroslava Maiocic from Ukraine. He was the only one to reach 1.98.
Wiermann, who comes from Assen, is cutting a long stretch in which the Netherlands didn’t count in the high jump. Animiki Puma was the last to win a medal at the European Indoor Championships. That was bronze in 1975.
Wermann recently won her fourth Dutch title. Last summer, the athlete surprised by taking fourth place at the European Outdoor Championships in Munich.
Things went well at the Ataköy Arena in Istanbul. She smoothly and gracefully vaulted over the bar at all heights on her first attempt. It only stops at 1.98. These three attempts failed. But she was already sure of the silver, because the medal contenders were stranded at 1.96.
Defending champions Visser and Tjin A-Lim for the 60 hurdles final
Nadine Visser qualified for the 60m hurdles final. The 28-year-old defending champion won her semi-final race in a time of 7.93. Maayke Tjin A-Lim also surprisingly reached the final. She finished fourth in 8.02, exactly the ranking that earned her a place in the final, which will be the last part of tonight’s tournament at Ataköy Arena.
Visser became the European Indoor Champion in 2021 (Torun) and in 2019 (Glasgow) and can win gold for the third time in a row. For 25-year-old Tjin A-Lim, this was her first European Indoor Championship.
Zoe Sydney did not reach the final. The 21-year-old finished sixth in her semi-final in 8.06. Sydney finished sixth in the final at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade last year.
Visser was the fastest in the series on Saturday with a 7.88, well above the Dutch record of 7.77. She said afterwards that she wasn’t very sharp yet, because she had to get used to it early. Sunday’s semi-final was also early, so Visser had to get ready to race again. 7.93 was enough to win the heat, but Finland’s Reetta Hurske was faster in the other semi-final: 7.85.
North Holland woman is more severe about the fitness of her body. More than ever, you want to go through an injury-free season. Over the past two years, that flaccid hamstring has proven to be her biggest hurdle. She tore muscles twice in preparation for the summer season and had to rehab carefully to get the body in shape in time for the major tournaments.
At the Tokyo Olympics, she finished fifth in the 100-meter hurdles final, but there was also the realization that there could have been a medal had it not been for that injury. A year later at the World Cup in Eugene, she was stranded in the semi-finals and was very disappointed by the lack of a top level.
After the European Championships in Munich, where she was one hundredth away from the bronze medal in the 100-meter hurdles, she decided to radically change her course. Visser parted ways with coach Bart Beniema after ten years and moved on to Laurent Moy, the successful coach of Fimke Ball, among others.
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