Best performance in Paris

No hopeful run! Gogl-Walli is in the semifinals

Susanne Gogl-Walli(Bild: AP/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

Sensational! Susanne Gogl-Walli came third in her preliminary heat over 400 m in a personal best time of 50.67 seconds and is therefore in the semi-finals on Wednesday! "I am proud and mega-happy!"

The "Krone" reports from Paris

The 28-year-old improved her own best time of 50.87 seconds by two tenths to 50.67, missing the age-old record set by Karoline Käfer (50.62) in 1977 by just five hundredths. "Now the record is really within reach," laughed the athlete from Linz, although this record was still secondary in the preliminaries. The only important thing was her sensational qualification for the semi-finals.

The way she saved third place by the skin of her teeth with her last ounce of strength on the home straight was sensational. Ireland's Sharlene Mawdsley was just behind Susanne Gogl-Walli with a time of 50.71 seconds.

The athlete from Linz thus reached the semi-finals in Paris, as she did at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the last two World Championships (2022, 2023) and this year's European Championships in Rome.

In top form at the season highlight 
It's simply amazing how she's always in top form at the season's peak. "Of course, I also have my coach Wolfgang Adler to thank for that!" He always plans the season perfectly for his star pupil. "The 50.67 was exactly what we thought was possible and what we were aiming for."

In the semi-finals, the 28-year-old naturally wants to give it her all once again, attack the record and also try to make it to the final. She knows herself that this is extremely difficult: "You have to run under 50.00 seconds!" A barrier that she probably won't be able to beat yet. But who knows? In any case, one of her goals is to improve on her 20th place in Tokyo 2021.