Sage crouches down and touches the ground after finishing a heat.AP Photo/David J. Phillip
AP Photo/David J. Phillip

Watson and Arop reach podium on World Athletics Continental Tour

On Wednesday, Sage Watson and Marco Arop both competed on the World Athletics Continental Tour circuit in Europe.

Watson participated in the Gyulai István Memorial in Székesfehérvar, Hungary, claiming bronze with a time of 56.29s in the women’s 400-metre hurdles event. The national record holder finished behind the Netherlands’ Femke Bol (54.67s) and Ukrainian Anna Rzyhkova (55.86s).

This race is her first competition since the season was shut down in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

At the 2019 World Athletics Championships, Rzyhkova and Watson ran in the 400mH final, finishing seventh and eighth, respectively.

READ: Day 13 at Lima 2019: Sage Watson wins 400mH gold

Later in the day Arop was also in action. He competed at the Irena Szewinska Memorial in Bydgoszcz, Poland, running to second place in the 800m 1:45.75. Great Britain’s Elliot Giles won the race with a season’s best of 1:45.18, while Australian Joseph Deng trailed Arop in third with 1:45.86.

READ: Marco Arop sets personal best at Diamond League stop in Monaco

This is Arop’s second competition in less than a week. He set a personal best last week at the first Diamond League stop of the season, clocking 1:44.14.

Arop and Watson will both be competing at the next Diamond League meet, happening this Sunday in Stockholm.