Estonian medalists return from U20 World Championships in Colombia
Estonia's young athletes have returned from a successful World Under-20 Athletics Championships in Cali, Colombia. Leading the way was Karmen Bruus, who took gold in the women's high jump, alongside Viktor Morozov, who won bronze in the men's triple jump.
"I'm a bit speechless at the moment," 17-year-old Bruus told ERR at Tallinn Airport, when asked to sum up her experience at the World Championships.
"I'm very happy, it was a really nice competition, everything was great,". Bruus said. "To win gold at the World Championships is an indescribable feeling, you have to feel it yourself to be able to explain it."
"Everything was exactly as it usually is, the coach didn't put any pressure on me to go for the medal: I just had to go out and enjoy myself and do my best," Bruus added.
Bruus took the gold after clearing a height of 1.95 meters in Cali. Weeks earlier, she matched the Estonian national record of 1.96 meters in the World Adult Championships in Eugene, Oregon, finishing in seventh.
With a new Estonian record tantalizingly close, ERR asked Bruus when she thinks she'll be able to add that to her already considerable list of achievements. "I really don't know, but I hope as soon as possible! In fact, it's so close, but in the final (in Cali) I was so tired from everything that unfortunately I didn't make it," she said.
Bruus will be in action again next Thursday in the qualifying round of the European Adult Championships in Munich, Germany. Success there, would mean a shot at the European title in the final on August 21.
"I don't want to put any pressure on myself, I want to go back to enjoying myself as usual, not thinking about a place or a medal," said Bruus. "I just want to give it my best and then I should get a good result," she added.
Triple-jump bronze medalist Viktor Morozov said he was delighted to see so many people waiting at Tallinn Airport to greet the returning athletes.
Morozov, who won bronze at the U-20 European Championships last summer, achieved a new personal best of 16.13 meters in the final of this year's competition, which was enough to earn him third place overall. The gold medal was won by Jamaican Jaydon Hibbert, who set a new U-20 World Championship record of 17.27 meters in the process.
"It made me feel like everything has been completed, mission accomplished and now I can rest now," Morozov told ERR.
When asked how he felt after completing his bronze medal winning jump, Morozov beamed, "Only positive emotions, joy, joy and joy!"
"The coach's words were the usual: (he talked about) success; do everything the way you know how and everything will happen," he added. Morozov is now focused on winning gold at next year's U-20 European Championships in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
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Editor: Michael Cole