Mission Accomplished: ETCH 2nd League Recap

The Swiss national team travelled to Belgrade last Thursday with one goal in mind: get promoted back to the first league with a top two finish at the European Team Championships. The European Team Championships are kind of like the conference championships for European countries. Each country sends a team with one male and female athlete per event, and the meet is scored. The top and bottom teams in each league move up and down a division. We were relegated last year and were hoping to move back up again this year.

The men’s hammer field was great and included the world leader and two of the top four throwers in Europe this year. Unfortunately, the weather was not as good. My training improved a lot in the week leading up to the meet and I felt ready to throw 65-66 meters. However, after warming up, reporting to the call room, and being escorted onto the field, a torrential downpour arrived and the hammer was delayed by more than an hour. After the weather improved, we warmed up again and I managed a decent throw (63.11m), but was not as fresh as I would have liked. Still, I am quite happy with the result. I place fifth and scored valuable points for the team and threw my best result in Europe so far this year. My technique also felt better and I had no fouls. I know that in better conditions I can throw several meters further and plan to do so at my next competition. The team also did outstanding. After the first day we were in second place and improved to first on Sunday to capture the win and achieve our goal.

The entire weekend was also fun. Traveling with a team is always more interesting than traveling alone since you have others to hang out with and experience a new country with. Our impression of Serbia did not start out well. After being used to punctuality in Switzerland, it was a change of pace to be in a country where the buses constantly run a half hour behind schedule, the elevators don’t work well, and things are not planned out to the finest detail (not to mention the weather). But, we still enjoyed the trip. On Friday night we were all invited to the Swiss Embassy for a welcome reception. The highlight of the weekend, however, was after our win on Sunday when we continued our tradition of throwing new team members into the steeplechase pit after the meet (see pictures below). Now we are already looking forward to next season where we will face some still competition in the first league.

Below are some pictures and video from this weekend, taken by Swiss national javelin coach Terry McHugh.

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