Laura Garcia-Caro was dramatically overtaken by Lyudmila Olyanovska at the European Athletics Championships
Premature celebrations from a Spanish racewalker caused her to miss out on a podium place after she was overtaken by her opponent.
Earlier this summer, Laura Garcia-Caro was competing in the 20km race walk at the European Athletics Championships in Rome. In the final moments of the race, the 29-year-old pounded down the inside lane of the Stadio Olimpico track.
Garcia-Caro seemingly believed she’d nabbed a bronze medal behind Italian duo Antonella Palmisano, 33, and Valentina Trapaletti, 39 and began pumping her fist in the air.
However, these joyful celebrations were cut short as Ukrainian Lyudmila Olyanovska, 31, picked up speed and surged past her just seconds before crossing the finish line.
Laura Garcia-Caro thought she’d bagged a bronze medal at the European Athletics Championships earlier this summer. (Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images)
Garcia-Caro, who was cloaked in the Spanish flag, didn’t see her opponent until it was too late and her ecstatic expression quickly turned into a look of sheer horror.
Olyanovska took home the bronze medal and finished 11 seconds behind Trapletti’s silver and 40 seconds behind Palmisano’s gold.
Speaking about her narrow defeat, Garcia-Caro claimed she was ‘quite disappointed’ that she came in fourth.
“The first part of the race I suffered, but [I did] recover and in the last 10 metres I thought I had it, but I didn’t,” she told local media, as per Reuters.
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“Now I have to assimilate [what happened] and heal my heart.”
Following the fiercely contested racewalk, footage of Garcia-Caro’s early celebrations went viral across social media.
Users quickly flocked to X, formerly known as Twitter, to have their say on the ‘hilarious’ situation.
One viewer wrote: “At least she managed to laugh it off at the end. Good sportsmanship,” as a second said: “There is something ‘satisfying’ about seeing a ‘premature celebrator’ receive their ‘comeuppance’.”
“That’s hilarious. The old saying, “Don’t count your chickens,” said another user.
And a fourth typed: “That attitude went from one extreme to another. Priceless.”
Lyudmila Olyanovska swiftly overtook her opponent, leaving the Spanish athlete in disbelief. (Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images)
Following her fourth-place finish at the European Athletics Championships, Garcia-Caro has been competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Last week (August 1) she came seventh in the final of the Women’s 20km Walk with a time of 1:28:12. She was bested by China’s Yang Jiayu and María Pérez, both 28, who took home the gold and silver, respectively.
26-year-old Australian racewalker Jemima Montag placed third while Colombia’s Sandra Arenas, 30, missed out on a podium position by coming fourth.
Alegna González, 25, from Mexico and Ecuadorian 24-year-old Glenda Morejón placed fifth and sixth.
