De Coster finished on the course in the Kolna Sports Center in 90.71. He was therefore almost seven seconds slower than the Swiss Martin Dougoud, who set the top time with 83.98. The semi-finals and final will be played on Saturday.
“I didn’t have the best feeling”, reacts De Coster, who started 41st. “But the semi-final is a completely different game. I have to finish in the top ten to reach the final. That is my ambition and after that anything is possible.”
At the European Games, one ticket is ready for the Olympic Games in Paris. A new and better chance at the World Cup in London will follow later in the season. De Coster was already there in 2021 at the Games in Tokyo. “I didn’t get the result I wanted (22nd, ed.). So I definitely want to come back and do better,” he says. “I feel much stronger now than I did two years ago. I can now fully focus on the sport with the support of Topsport Vlaanderen. I have taken a big step forward physically, mentally and technically.”
© BELGIUM
Belgian swordsmen seventeenth
The Belgian women’s team in épée fencing finished in seventeenth place at the European Games in Poland on Thursday. The Belgians lost 45-35 to Lithuania in the first round.
Aube Vandingenen, Anne Bultynck and Solane Beken defended the Belgian colors in the Tauron Arena in Krakow. Vandingenen and Beken previously reached the 1/32nd finals in the individual competition. Bultynck did not make it through the group stage.
The Belgian men in foil fencing are now in the quarterfinals. Stef Van Campenhout, good for bronze in the individual foil competition on Monday, Mathieu Nijs and Stef De Greef were free in the first round. In the second round, they beat Spain 45-41. This afternoon, from 12.40 pm, the quarter final against France is on the program. If they win, they go through to the semi-finals, if they lose, two more classification matches follow.
© BELGIUM
Carraggi saves match points in eighth final
Julien Carraggi (BWF 71) crawled through the eye of the needle on Thursday at the European Games in Poland in his eighth finals of the badminton tournament. He saved two game points against the Norwegian Markus Barth (BWF 202).
Carraggi had to chase all the way through the third set. He cleared two match points at 18-20 and eventually won 23-21. He dropped to his knees after the last point and a loud shout of joy followed in the Jaskolka Arena in Tarnow.
“I was behind almost the entire game. I have brought out my strongest mental game. I told myself that until the last point had been played, I had not lost. I got those match points and then you have to set the mind to zero, otherwise it will be complicated,” he responds.
Carraggi is a lot higher on the ranking than Barth, but according to him the Norwegian had come out of the groups “a lot fresher”. “He had two smooth matches in the past two days while I had to play until 11 pm, only went to sleep at 1 am and played matches of an hour and a half. I didn’t feel my legs,” explains Carraggi.
In the quarterfinals, Carraggi will collide with Frenchman Toma Junior Popov, the third seed and last year’s European Championship bronze. “That will be difficult anyway. He is in the top 30 in the world (28th, red), has already won many medals, is super strong. But if I get to the quarterfinals, anything is possible.”
The 23-year-old Carraggi has specifically worked towards the European Games, where badminton also counts as a European Championship. “The goal is to peak here. It is only my second European Championship, it is my first European Games. I would have been happy with a win in the group. I have no words for it.”
The tournament in Poland also counts for the Olympic points ranking towards Paris. “Of course that is somewhere in the back of my mind. But now I focus on this tournament”, confirms Carraggi, who is now also over the textbooks. He studies art sciences at KU Leuven. “My first exams went well. I think it’s great to combine top sport and studies. After the training you are busy with something completely different, I have a social life in Leuven. It’s super cool.”
Belgian foil fencers go out in quarterfinals
The Belgian men’s foil fencing team was unable to qualify for the semi-finals at the European Games in Poland on Thursday.
The Belgians were free in the first round and then beat Spain in the Tauron Arena in Krakow 45-41. In the quarter-finals against France, they lost 45-38. The Belgian team consists of Stef Van Campenhout, still good for bronze in the individual foil competition on Monday, Mathieu Nijs and Stef De Greef. The Belgians will play two more classification matches later in the day to determine their final ranking.
The Belgian women’s épée fencing team finished seventeenth in Kraku earlier Thursday. It lost to Lithuania 45-35 in the first round. Aube Vandingenen, Anne Bultynck and Solane Beken defended the Belgian colours.
2023-06-29 15:44:14
#EUROPEAN #GAMES #Gabriel #Coster #advances #semifinals #kayak #slalom #Julien #Carraggi #saves #match #points #eighth #final
