Isaac Nader, in the 800 meters, and Lorene Bazolo, in the 200, today broke records of the Portuguese Athletics Championship with about 30 years, at the closing of the 108th edition of the event, held in Braga.
Benfica’s Isaac Nader, who is already scheduled to compete at the World Championships in Budapest (August 19-27) in the 1,500 meters, was in the spotlight at the Estádio 1.º de Maio when he broke a 33-year-old championship record (it belonged to Mário Silva, from Sporting de Braga, since 1990), with 01.45.32 minutes, one of the best marks ever by a Portuguese athlete in this distance.
In the women’s 200 meters, Lorene Bazolo, from Sporting, who ‘put’ three athletes on the podium, recovered the title lost last season and won for the sixth time, having set a new championship record – 23.06 seconds – beating the previous mark of Lucrécia Jardim (Benfica), 23.15 seconds, which had lasted since 1994.
Also Fatumata Diallo, from Clube Oriental de Pechão, after a great race in the 400 meters hurdles that allowed her to debut as champion of Portugal, beating the champion Vera Barbosa, with 10 titles in the last 12 editions, set a new record of the championships (56.53), which belonged to the ‘leonina’ athlete (65.76).
Sísino Ambriz became the Portuguese champion in the 110-meter hurdles, with a new national junior record (13.79 seconds), having led his Benfica teammates João Vítor Oliveira (just four hundredths of a second more) and Edson Gomes in the most exciting race of the afternoon.
The young champion [he turned 19 this month] started better, but an overturn at a barrier put him a little behind, forcing him to make a spectacular recovery to win the race and despite João Vítor Oliveira’s attempt, who flew into the finish line, coming close to ‘stealing’ the win.
In the women’s 100m hurdles, Sporting’s Olímpia Barbosa won for the sixth time, beating the Benfica competition of Catarina Queirós and Fatumata Balde, second and third respectively.
In the men’s 200 meters, Delvis Santos, from Jardim da Serra, became the two-time champion with 21.08 seconds, beating the ‘lion’ Omar Elkhatib (21.26) and the ‘arsenalista’ Gabriel Maia (21.44).
Among other results, Patrícia Silva, in the 800 meters, became a three-time champion, António Vital e Silva won in the hammer throw, with almost 63 meters, winning the scepter for the fourth time in his career, and, taking advantage of the absence of Olympic, world and European champion Pedro Pablo Pichardo, Sporting athlete Tiago Pereira became a five-time champion in the triple jump.
In the last two races, 5,000 meters, Rogério Amaral (Sobral de Ceira) won for the first time, and Vanessa Carvalho (Sporting de Braga) gave a title to the house, succeeding the also Braga Mariana Machado, who won the three previous editions.
