Sofie Dokter wins silver at the Euro Championships indoor athletics in Apeldoorn. Photo screenshot NOS-interview All-rounder and WUR student Sofie Dokter won a silver medal at the Euro Champions Indoor Athletics in Apeldoorn with a personal record on the 60-metre hurdles and long jump. She came very close to a Dutch record as well.
‘I’m trying to be happy with the silver medal, but I’m also a bit disappointed, because I came really close to a new Dutch record’, the student of Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning said in an interview with NOS after the tournament. ‘But I am really happy with this silver medal.’
Records
Dokter surprised everyone, herself included, by jumping 6.61 metres on the long jump, improving her personal record by 30 centimetres. Only two women ever jumped a greater distance during an indoor competition. Doktor: ‘I was already doing well on the long jump during my training, and I felt a really long jump was coming, but I honestly did not expect over six metres and sixty centimetres.’
Her excellent score on the long jump brought her very close to a Dutch record, if she were able to perform really well on the final 800 metres. ‘I knew how fast I had to be and was confident I would make it’, the athlete states. ‘Perhaps that is why I am disappointed now. I truly believed I would do it. But it was a chaotic race with much pushing and pulling, and I came in just two-tenths short.’
Home audience
Doktor looks back on a successful tournament, despite this disappointment. ‘It went really well. I am happy and proud to have won silver. And performing for the home audience, with my parents, friends and family in the gallery, is really special.’