Matic Osovnikar has taken third place in the men's 100 metres at the European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg. Osovnikar set a new Slovenian record of 10.14 seconds en route to a place on the podium.
The Slovenian sprint star finished 0.15 seconds behind the winner, Francis Obikwelu (9.99) of Portugal, and 0.04 seconds behind Russia's Andrei Yepishin in second place.
For the 26-year-old dentistry student from Skofja Loka this is the first medal at major championships. His previous best was 4th at the European Indoor Championships in 2003 and earlier this year.
Osovnikar did not get off to the best of starts but found his rhythm quickly to be among the contenders from the 30 metre mark. With the line getting closer, the Slovenian managed to keep the pace to ward off challengers.
"I'm extremely happy - not only did I bag a medal, I also broke the national record. I didn't think that improving on the old record by a mere hundredth of a second would be enough, I thought I would have to run even faster," a visibly ecstatic Osovnikar said after the race.
"Before the season started I could not have imagined taking a medal - this is a dream come true...I have shown that I'm in good form and I hope that I will not be too tired for Wednesday's qualifying for the 200 metres."
The medal is Slovenia's seventh at European athletics championships since the country gained independence in 1991.
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