Belgian shot putter had to run 100m hurdles to save her team

Extraordinary scenes developed at the European Championships in Poland when the Belgium shot put and hammer throw champion Jolien Boumkwo displayed great team spirit, stepping up to run a 100 metres hurdles race to save her team from getting disqualified.

This is great! After a team mate withdrew from the100m women’s hurdles, shot putter Jolien Boumkwo took part so Belgium would get points at the European Athletics Team Championships!

No one cared who won, all eyes were on her! pic.twitter.com/MEzPLtGzmw

— Rohith Nair (@RohithNair) June 25, 2023

Boumkwo had to take the place in the sprint because the two hurdlers in the team pulled out due to injury.

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Had no Belgian athlete competed in the event, the team would have been disqualified.

The 29-year-old finished the race without knocking any of the hurdles down in 32.81 seconds, 19 seconds after Spanish sprinter Teresa Errandonea who won with 13.22.

Boumkwo was applauded by the audience and congratulated by her rivals as she earned two points for the team.