Ilona Masson fourth in the European final in Birmingham
Ilona Masson finished fourth in the triple jump final at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham on Thursday evening, with 14.37m. She opened the final at 14.15m and improved to 14.37m, equalling the second-best mark of her career. Her fifth-round attempt was longer still, but was ruled invalid. Dariya Derkach of Italy won with a personal best of 14.60m. Saliyya Guisse took silver with 14.46m and Aleksandra Nacheva of Bulgaria bronze with 14.40m — three centimetres ahead of Ilona. Congratulations to all three medallists.
(photos taken by Tomas Sisk and used with permission from Photo News Belgium @photonewsbelgium @tomassisk)
Ilona reaches the end of a season that began with a foot injury in the winter. In June she added twenty centimetres to her personal best in Lucca and met the European entry standard. In July she jumped 14.52m in Thonon-les-Bains, three centimetres short of Svetlana Bolshakova’s Belgian record, and took the national title later that month. She competed at the World Championships in Tokyo last year and at her first European Championships this year, reaching the final and contesting it to the last round. She is 24.
Beyond the Board exists to put Belgian jumpers on international podiums. That is the standard we hold ourselves to, and it is why this one hurts — for Ilona, for her coach, and for everyone who worked towards Thursday evening. Finals like this do not come around often, and this one was there to be won.
We keep going. The work does not change.
Our thanks to the partners who make it possible.