Hekimoğlu snatches silver
A STAR Turkish Cypriot athlete is the toast of Turkey took after helping to smash a Turkish athletics record on the way to a stunning silver medal at the European Championships in Berlin.
TRNC sprint record-holder Yiğitcan Hekimoğlu was part of the Turkish national team which ran a close second to the UK team in the men’s 4x100m relay in Berlin on Sunday night.
The race saw Turkish anchor Ramil Guliyev cross the finish line in 37.98, just under two-tenths of a second behind the British quartet who triumphed in a time of 37.80. Speaking on TRT television immediately after the event and just before receiving his medal, 26-year-old Mr Hekimoğlu, holding a Turkish flag, said: “We have built a great team. We want to continue this success. We have shown what we can achieve.
“It was a tremendous result for us and we are proud to have been runners-up for Turkey.”
The former Girne American University Master’s student, who also ran the relay for Turkey at last August’s World Athletics Championships in London, finishing seventh in the final, had narrowly missed out on a place in the individual 100 metres final in Berlin, in which team-mate Jak Ali Harvey won bronze.
A TRT television commentator praised Mr Hekimoğlu as the youngest member of the relay squad and for its record-breaking result, along with Guliyev who surged past opponents in the final leg to take the silver for Turkey.
Turkish Youth and Sports Minister Mehmet Müharrem Kasapoğlu said: “I believe this historic achievement will be a great motivation for our young athletes and it will be a very valuable marker for future generations.”