Radio România Internațional

Tag: Joan Chelimo Melly

  • Olympic Prospects

    Olympic Prospects

    A new edition of the Olympic Games is expected to kick off in the French capital Paris in less than 6 weeks.

    The last qualification contests are underway and the athletes who booked tickets for Paris are completing their training. 91 athletes from Romania have so far qualified for the Olympic Games. The latest qualified is the Stella Rutto, a Romanian athlete of Kenyan origin, who went fourth in the 3 thousand meter hurdles at the recent championships in Rome, where she ended the race in 9 minutes, 22 seconds and 36 hundredths, a fresh personal record on the aforementioned distance.

    Joan Chelimo Melly got the only medal for Romania, silver in the half-marathon race, which is also a record for Romania. This Kenyan athlete is one of Romania’s runners in the Olympic marathon competition in Paris. Another Kenyan athlete, Delvine Meringor will also compete for Romania in Paris.

    Romanian sports fans have also pinned their hopes on their canoe sprinters. Last week at the European Kayak-Canoe Championships in Szeged, Hungary, Romanian Catalin Chirila clinched the European title in the one thousand meter canoe race, which is also an Olympic event.

    Romania hasn’t had a favourite canoe sprinter since Ivan Patzaichin, who reaped the Olympic gold in Munich, in 1972.

    Rowing is another Olympic discipline where Romania might have something to say in Paris as its athletes walked away with eight medals, four gold, two silver and two bronze, from the European championship in April. Our women’s eight stepped onto the podium’s highest step, as well as our male and female light double sculls, and women’s coxless pair. Silver went to the men’s pairs and the women’s four. The rowing events in Paris will be attended by 45 athletes from Romania.

    (bill)

  • Sports Roundup

    The Romanian athlete of Kenyan origin Joan Chelimo Melly got the silver medal in the women’s half-marathon contest of the European Championships in Rome. She ended the race in one hour, 8 minutes and 55 seconds right after the winner, Norwegian Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal, who beat Melly by 46 seconds. Calli Hauger-Thackery of Britain came third in one hour, 8 minutes and 58 seconds.

    Delvine Meringor, another Romanian athlete of Kenyan origin, came fourth in the race in one hour, nine minutes and 25 seconds. Romania’s both representatives are qualified for the Olympics in Paris.

    Stella Rutto, another Romanian runner of Kenyan descent, came fourth in the finals of the 3 thousand meters hurdles race, which she ended in 9 minutes, 22 seconds and 36 hundredths, a performance, which is also a personal record.

    Unfortunately Romanian hammer thrower, Bianca Ghelber, gold medalist in the latest edition of the European Championship, failed to qualify for the finals in Rome, after ranking only 20th in the preliminary groups.

    Now let’s have a look at the tennis competitions. Romanian tennis player Anca Todoni on Sunday won the most important title in her career so far at the WTA 125 tournament in Bari with 100 thousand Euros in prize money. The 19 years old athlete outperformed in the finals the Hungarian player Panna Udvardy 6-4, 6-0. The Romanian got 13,040 Euros and 125 WTA points.

    Among the other Romanian tennis performances of the week, was the qualification of Gabriela Ruse for the doubles semifinals of the tennis tournament in Roland Garros together with Ukrainian, Marta Kostiuk. The two athletes were stopped in their tracks by the all-Italian pair Sara Errani / Jasmine Paolini, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1. That was their second presence in the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament after the Australian Open in 2023.

    Romania’s minifootball side failed to win the European Championship in Sarajevo. The Romanians were outperformed by Serbia in the finals 10-9 in the penalty shootout.

    At the end of the game the score was one-all. The en-titre champions, Romania, have so far won the title six times, but lost three finals 1-4 against the Czech Republic in Kyiv şin 2018, 0-1 against Azerbaijan in 2022 and now in Sarajevo 9-10 to Serbia.

    (bill)