PM celebrates Belgium's star athletes after successful indoor championships
Belgium’s medal-winning athletes attended a reception hosted by prime minister Alexander De Croo in Brussels on Tuesday, on their return from a successful World Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
Heptathlete Noor Vidts and the men’s 4x400m relay team – Alexander Doom, Dylan Borlée, Jonathan Sacoor and Christian Iguacel – won gold at the tournament.
Doom also took gold in the individual 400m, making him the first man to win both events at the same World Indoor games and setting a Belgian record time in the process. On the final day of the games, Eliott Crestan took bronze in the 800m.
The haul of four medals was Belgium’s best ever performance at the championships, and saw them finish in second place in the medals table, behind the USA.
Two years ago, the men’s relay team won the indoor world title in Belgrade. The line-up included Julien Watrin, who has since been diagnosed with testicular cancer.
“We were hugely motivated by everything that happened to Julien,” Doom said after the victory on Sunday. “We knew we could do something here and we really wanted to run the best we could for him, fight for him. We did a fantastic job of that today.”
Attention now shifts towards outdoor competitions, with the European Championships in Rome in June followed by the Olympics in Paris in August.
Dylan Borlée, Eliott Crestan, Noor Vidts, Alexander De Croo, Alexander Doom, Christian Iguacel and Jonathan Sacoor © BELGA PHOTO / VIDEO BENOIT DOPPAGNE (video shows Dylan Borlée, who forgot his medal, receiving one from Alexander Doom, who has two)
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