Dylan Borlée only Belgian man to qualify for 400 meters European Championships finals

Dylan Borlée is the only Belgian to look out for Wednesday evening ​ in the men's 400 metres final at the European Athletics Championships in Munich. The 29-year-old Borlée finished second in the third series of the semi-finals on Tuesday, in 45.67. Before him, Kevin Borlée had to give up in the second series and Alexander Doom (45.77) came no further than sixth in the first series.

"I am very happy to make it to the final here," Borlée opened afterwards. "I didn't want to expect too much beforehand. I've had a good season, but that doesn't mean anything. I didn't have the best feeling today. I was also very stressed before my race. That stress started yesterday when I saw that they were running fast in the series. In hindsight I am of course very satisfied. I am in an EC final. That is fantastic. Hopefully the feeling will be even better tomorrow. My confidence is good. I'm going to have fun tomorrow. I'm going to stay focused, run my course and try to run a better time than today. And then we will see. I am a fighter. I'm going for it tomorrow."

Dylan had not seen his brother Kevin's injury a few minutes before. "I'm always very focused before a race. I only focus on myself and don't look at the other series. So I simply didn't know."

Alexander Doom confessed his disappointment after the semi-finals. The West-Fleming also hoped for a final, but came up short in the end after a quick start. "I am very disappointed, especially when you see that in the end there was only a difference of about ten hundredths", he said after the race.

© BELGA PHOTO BENOIT DOPPAGNE - Belgian Dylan Borlée runs to finish second of his heat at the semi-finals of the men's 400m race, on the second day of the Athletics European Championships, at Munich 2022, Germany, on Tuesday 16 August 2022. The second edition of the European Championships takes place from 11 to 22 August and features nine sports.