Athlete of the week

Middle-distance race runner Claudia Bobocea

Florin Orban, 07.06.2022, 13:45

The international athletics competition season is in full swing. Athletes have been going at all lengths to meet the targets set for their participation in the major international competitions of the summer season, so they have a very busy weekly schedule, competing even in three events a week. Fairly recently, Romanian athletes have distinguished themselves in various competitions; some of them even qualified for the upcoming events. For instance, Andrei Rares Toader won the shotput event as part of the international reunion in Prague. Andrei Toader succeeded his performance of the ongoing season, with a throw of 21 meters and 2 centimeters. Andrei Toader met the target set for the European Championships hosted by the city of Munich in August. The Romanian was only 8 centimeters away from meeting the target set for the World championships, to be held in the US locality of Eugene, Oregon, in July.

Alina Rotaru-Kottmann is another Romanian athlete who booked her ticket for the European Championship in Germany. At the competition hosted by the locality of Inneringen-Hettingen, in the Land of Baden-Württemberg, Rotaru-Kottman won the long-distance jump event, with a jump of 6 meters and 69 centimeters. On Thursday, Alina won a similar event in a competition hosted by the town of Filothei, in Greece, with a jump of 6 meters and 63 centimeters.

However, the performer of the week was middle-distance race runner Claudia Bobocea. On Tuesday in Ostrava, the Czech Republic, Bobocea came in 4th in the 1,500m race. Her timing, nonetheless, enabled Claudia to qualify for this coming Julys World Championships in the US, but also for the European Championships, to be held in Germany in August. In Manchester on Friday, in a contest which is part of the World Athletics Continental Tour circuit, Claudia Bobocea won the 800m race. Then on Sunday, in Moroccan capital city of Rabat, in an international contest which is part of the Diamond League circuit, Bobocea came in 5th in the 1,500m race. Reason enough for Radio Romania International to designate Claudia Bobocea the Athlete of the week.

Claudia hails from Bucharest. She was born on June 11, 1992. Claudia Bobocea has been an athlete since 2007. In 2014, she came in 4th in the nations competition 4×1,500 event as part of the IAAF World Relays held in Nassau, Bahamas. In the Rio Olympics in 2016, Claudia Bobocea was 51st placed in the 800m race. In 2021, at the Tokyo Olympics, Claudia Bobocea came in 33rd in the 1,500m race.

(EN)