Powerade athlete Bruna Jéssica Farias on the right track at SACu23 Montevideo
Montevideo- The sixth South American championships (u23) was held this time weekend in Uruguay. In Montevideo’s Batlle Parc the recently refurbished Darwin Piñeyrúa athletic track was for three days the main attraction. Twelve countries competed at the blue track with 400 athletes in more than twenty events. Powerade team had two medal contenders in the national team for Brazil, two female athletes: Karen Lopes and Bruna Jessica. The twosome took three individual medals home plus one relay medal. “Bruna is on the right track for big results”, coach Gerard Lenting commented.
Bruna Jéssica Farias is the new kid on the block for the sprints in the senior ranks and Karen Lopes passed this year for the first time the 5000 point barrier. Both had set their eyes on the medal positions. On Friday Bruna ran a very good semi finals and looked more than ready to take first place. However in the finals her bullet start was not as fast as it used to be and it cost her dearly. Just two hundred of a second shy of a gold medal. She took the silver with a smile knowing the can do better.
In the relay on Saturday the Powerade sprinter took the baton in third position but passed it on in the a comfortable lead over the rest of the field. “A win for Brazil and a very useful contribution from our sprinter,” said Lenting when he reviewed his video. “If everything comes together in one race Bruna will better her personal record in the hundred meters for sure”.
Saturday also marked the first very fresh/cold day for the heptathlon. Karen Lopes started with a bang in winning the first event, the 100 meter hurdles, in 14”39 (-1.2). The 924 points she got was in the end also her highest score in this meet. In the last event of the day (the 200m.) she scored a personal best with 24”84 seconds. The second day was not an easy start for the all-rounders. The swirling wind made it really difficult and a lot of competitors scored below par or fouled. Karen once again won the event with a reasonable 5.40m.
“I was hoping that after the win and the good result in javelin that Karen would improve in the 800 meters if she could run a personal best then the Argentinian girl really had to run fast to get Karen”, coach Lenting explained afterwards. He calculated right but Lopes did marginally better than in the Brazilian championships but that was not enough to get second place, she had to settle for bronze: 5075 points.
With the medal ceremony for heptathlon scheduled on the same time as the final for the 200 Karen Lopes had to delay it a bit to see her team mate winning gold. Running the curve slightly faster than the semi’s Bruna Jessica came at first on the home stretch. “I was thinking that the girl next to me (from Venezuela) would be catching up but I was ahead of her all the time”, Bruna said after the race. With a personal best she took the championship home in 23.61seconds.
“The gold in the relay was nice extra for Bruna and I was very pleased with the overall performances of our duo in the Brazilian team. It shows we are on the right track and with the national championships coming up I hope we can end this very successful year on a high note”, concluded Powerade head coach Lenting.
Bruna Jéssica Farias is the new kid on the block for the sprints in the senior ranks and Karen Lopes passed this year for the first time the 5000 point barrier. Both had set their eyes on the medal positions. On Friday Bruna ran a very good semi finals and looked more than ready to take first place. However in the finals her bullet start was not as fast as it used to be and it cost her dearly. Just two hundred of a second shy of a gold medal. She took the silver with a smile knowing the can do better.
In the relay on Saturday the Powerade sprinter took the baton in third position but passed it on in the a comfortable lead over the rest of the field. “A win for Brazil and a very useful contribution from our sprinter,” said Lenting when he reviewed his video. “If everything comes together in one race Bruna will better her personal record in the hundred meters for sure”.
Saturday also marked the first very fresh/cold day for the heptathlon. Karen Lopes started with a bang in winning the first event, the 100 meter hurdles, in 14”39 (-1.2). The 924 points she got was in the end also her highest score in this meet. In the last event of the day (the 200m.) she scored a personal best with 24”84 seconds. The second day was not an easy start for the all-rounders. The swirling wind made it really difficult and a lot of competitors scored below par or fouled. Karen once again won the event with a reasonable 5.40m.
“I was hoping that after the win and the good result in javelin that Karen would improve in the 800 meters if she could run a personal best then the Argentinian girl really had to run fast to get Karen”, coach Lenting explained afterwards. He calculated right but Lopes did marginally better than in the Brazilian championships but that was not enough to get second place, she had to settle for bronze: 5075 points.
With the medal ceremony for heptathlon scheduled on the same time as the final for the 200 Karen Lopes had to delay it a bit to see her team mate winning gold. Running the curve slightly faster than the semi’s Bruna Jessica came at first on the home stretch. “I was thinking that the girl next to me (from Venezuela) would be catching up but I was ahead of her all the time”, Bruna said after the race. With a personal best she took the championship home in 23.61seconds.
“The gold in the relay was nice extra for Bruna and I was very pleased with the overall performances of our duo in the Brazilian team. It shows we are on the right track and with the national championships coming up I hope we can end this very successful year on a high note”, concluded Powerade head coach Lenting.
Comments