A Spanish athlete has learnt the hard way that a race is not over until it’s over.
Coming into the home straight of the 20km race walk at the European Championships in Rome on Saturday (AEST), Laura García-Caro thought she had sealed third spot on the podium.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Spanish race walker loses medal after celebrating too early.
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Even sporting a Spanish flag draped around her neck, the 29-year-old appeared to start to become emotional in celebration as she approached the finish line in the bronze medal position.
But her 10m lead ahead of Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Olyanovska was quickly cut to nothing in the dying metres of the race while she remained unaware of her surroundings, still believing she was in the clear.
García-Caro had at one stage in the race been a chance for a top-two placing before being passed by eventual silver medalist Valentina Trapletti, but ended up with nothing when Olyanovska went by her in the final five metres of the race.
García-Caro’s reaction was captured in real-time as it quickly dawned on her that she had counted her chickens well before they hatched and, by the time she realised she was being passed, it was too late.
With no more pace to call on — and no time in which to call it anyway — García-Caro appeared distraught as she was condemned to crossing the line in fourth.
Trapletti finished just behind Italian countrywoman Antonella Palmisano to complete an Italy one-two quinella for the race through the streets of Rome.
Olyanovska said she never gave up hope that she could snatch the result.
“I was tired in the last kilometre and last metres, but I wanted to win this medal for my country so much,” Olyanovska said.
“Nowadays, there is a war in Ukraine. We train under very difficult conditions.
“I do not know even if my five-year-old son saw me competing today because in Ukraine the infrastructure is broken.
“They do not have electricity, there is no internet, no light, so I do not know if he saw me on the TV.”