One of Sweden’s medal hopes has arrived in the WC city of Eugene.
However, long jumper Khaddi Sagnia is not particularly at ease.
Instead, the mood is the exact opposite, and that’s because she and her coach Katrin Klaup got rid of their baggage.
Competition clothes gone
Bags that were partly made up of her competition clothes.
— We’ll see how we solve it. It’s a bit of chaos, she says.
— This is the sort of thing you don’t want to focus on. I’ve been sitting in Berkeley calling, sitting on the phone with the airlines for hours. It’s not something we should do, we active people are there to train and compete. There has been a lot of focus on the wrong things. It has been a disaster.
She has not received any help from the union.
– No. When we got here, they said they didn’t have extra clothes. I don’t know how it will turn out.
The option right now is to compete in other clothes, but Sagnia is not sure if that is allowed.
– I hope so. I saw some sprinter who drove in different clothes when her luggage didn’t arrive either, but I don’t know how the rules will be. We’ll see a little. I’ll talk to Kajsa (Bergqvist, national team captain) and then we’ll see how we can fix it.
Reassuring message
However, there should not be any major danger for Khaddi Sagnias’ participation.
According to national team captain Kajsa Bergqvist, there are clothes in the WC village.
— We’ll fix that, it’s nothing to worry about. Since you don’t have your own “kit” with you, it’s sad, but it works out. We can borrow it together, she says.
After all, 28-year-old Sagnia, who qualifies on Saturday at 9 p.m. Swedish time, has her spiked shoes and a set of training clothes with her, which has meant that she has been able to train and prepare as planned during the days in the United States.
— I felt that if we now get rid of the baggage, I can at least stick to it. So there has been a lot of hand washing, she says.