Belgium was outside the barriers. So Julianne Bomko agreed to run.

The must-see runner was in lane 2, and it was hard to miss: Julien Bomko of Belgium was a head taller and heavier than any other woman in the second heat of the 100-meter hurdles.

Boumkwo competes regularly in track and field — shot put, hammer throw and discus — but on Saturday at the European Team Championships in Krakow, Poland, Belgium needed a hurdler. no barrier.

The two brought into the meet are injured, and if Belgium doesn’t send a runner to the starting line in the 100 hurdles, her team will be disqualified.

So Pumko agreed to run. somewhat.

Bumko smiled and waved to the television cameras when she was introduced with the rest of the runners.

Shape was not her priority. nor speed. “My team is the most important thing to me,” said Pomko, 29, who placed seventh in the shot put Friday.

She knew Belgium needed every point. Her team hoped to stay in the top tier of the European Team Championships, an event in which nations compete against their peers in three performance-based tournaments. A disqualification would likely mean a demotion for Belgium. Running, even if she finished last, meant two valuable points, which she knew could make the difference.

“I couldn’t afford to lose a single point,” she told AFP. That’s why I thought about getting involved.

“There was no danger to me if I took it calmly.”

And so, one afternoon, Bomko becomes a hitch player. She took her time instead of jumping over each obstacle, then sprinting to the next. The rest of the field had just passed their second barrier and lunged for the next when Pumko gingerly raised her foot over the first.

Her goal was to finish, to finish on her feet, no matter how long it took. The embarrassing fall probably wouldn’t have made a difference – she knew it would be her last – but the injury would have certainly made things worse. Carefully and calmly, she cleared every hurdle and crossed the finish line in 32.81 seconds.

The crowd cheered. Sweden’s Maja Maunsbach, a fellow runner, greeted Bomko after the finish line with a high five hands. Catarina Quiros of Portugal, who had run in the lane next to Bomko, extended her congratulatory hand.

Monsbach, who was seventh, and Queirós, who was sixth, both finished fractions of a second behind the winner of the heat, Teresa Airrandia of Spain, who won in 13.22 seconds.

However, the story ending in Bumco and Belgium was not. Belgium finished 14th in the team standings, 6.5 points behind Greece – a gap too big for even Bumko to make up – and He was demoted to Division 2.