Athlete of the Week

Romanian runner Claudia Bobocea has been designated Athlete of the Week by Radio Romania International

Florin Orban, 27.06.2023, 13:45

Poland is these days playing venue for the European Games underway in Krakow and the Malopolska region. Sunday saw the last athletics events and the Romanian team failed to qualify for the Division One, the competitions elite echelon. In the second division, athletes from Romania ranked only fifth, after Hungary, Ukraine, Lithuania and Slovenia. Only the first three teams have advanced to the competitions first echelon. On Thursday, Claudia Mihaela Bobocea obtained the only Romanian win in the 15 hundred meter race, which she ended in 4 minutes, 8 seconds and 69 hundredths.

In Division One, where the 15 hundred meter finals took place on Sunday, the second best time was obtained by Spanish athlete Esther Guerrero: 4 minutes, 11 seconds and 77 hundredths, three seconds after Bobocea. The Romanian walked away with gold from the aforementioned race and Radio Romania International has designated her athlete of the week, a title weekly awarded to the best Romanian performance.

Claudia Bobocea was born in Bucharest on 11 June 1992 and took up athletics in 2007. She has always been among the worlds fastest middle distance runners, although she failed to win medals in major competitions. In 2016 she qualified for the Olympics in Rio but unfortunately came only 51st in the 800 meter race. She became silver medalist in 15 hundred meter race of the European Indoor Championship held in Istanbul this year, after ending the race in 4 minutes, 3 seconds and 76 hundredths, the best time in her entire career so far. Under these circumstances, the show she managed last week in Poland, is part of a headway that will hopefully continue towards the upcoming Olympic Games next year.

(bill)