Image: GEPA pictures
Athlete Ivona Dadic finished the Olympic heptathlon in Tokyo in eighth place. The Upper Austrian could not improve in the final 800 m run and achieved 6,403 points. Verena Mayr finished eleventh with 6,310 points. As in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, the title went to Belgian Nafissatou Thiam (6,791) ahead of the two Dutch women Anouk Vetter (6,689) and Emma Oosterwegel (6,590).
Dadic came fourth in her 800 run in 2: 15.10 minutes and missed a top 6 place by 17 points. Mayr finished third in the first 800 in 2: 07.92, making up two places.
The two Austrians did not get through the preparation without injury and reported similar complaints. In both cases, thigh problems allegedly originated from the back. Shortly before the trip to Japan, Dadic went to Munich to see Sportart Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt and had his back treated.
Dadic started the second day in eighth place, but lost a place in the first Thursday competition, the long jump, before she improved to eighth place with the spear. “The javelin was really good, it doesn't do me any good, because the long jump was unfortunately nothing,” said Dadic, who scored 6.11 m and 48.40 m respectively on Thursday.
Since the long jump cost so many points, she should have thrown the javelin around 53 m, explained the 2016 European Championship bronze medalist. “The first jump wasn't that bad, but it was just about invalid. so that I have one inside. And on the third one the run-up just didn't work out, I was way too far away. “
The two days were a struggle. “With the heat and with the competition.” Already after the first day, which she had commented as “Not my super day, but an okay day”, it became clear that the medal ranks were probably out of reach.
Mayr was already out of the race for precious metal after the first two disciplines on Wednesday. The third place in the 2019 World Cup was “quite happy” with the long jump (6.12 m) on Thursday. It was clear to her that she would not come close to her best performance. In the javelin throw, the first one “went totally in the pants”, in the second she “cut the rock out with force”, he pointed at 44.95 m.
The whole competition is not going to be easy. “You always hope for a miracle. I just drove here positively, tried everything. The looseness wasn't there. I'm not at the level of performance that I was at in 2019. The training that I lack, I miss, can you can't just catch up. “
