Maasik was making her championship debut on Friday, the competition's opening day, and put in an outstanding performance, crossing the finish line with a time of 9:44.20.

Maasik had set a domestic record of 9:48.62 last month, and had planned on improving on this.

"My plan, as always, was to start hard and secure a position in the first lane," Maasik told ERR post-race.

This gave her 10th place, which was not, however, enough to be able to advance to the finals.

"Lacking experience in championship events, I quickly realized that fighting for a place was consuming too much energy. I opted for a calmer, smoother position at the back of the pack, hoping to conserve strength for the second half of the race," Maasik continued.

Overall, Maasik secured 19th place.

"I was very pleased with the previous Estonian record, but I knew there was still room for improvement. The season is still in its early stages, and with more starts and opportunities to test different strategies, there's definitely room to improve," she added.

Maasik, 30, has switched disciplines several times throughout her career, and says she plans to achieve even better results in the future, noting that her part-time job fits in with her sports career, and that she has so far been injury free.

The 26th European Athletics Championships  started Friday and run until June 12, and are being held in Rome for the first time in around 50 years.

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