A Spanish speed walker faced disappointment when she lost out on a medal due to premature celebration.
When you achieve excellence in any field, it’s natural to want to celebrate your success.
Cheering, clapping, and raising your hands in triumph are all well-deserved gestures—provided you’ve actually crossed the finish line.
Unfortunately, Spanish speed walker Laura García-Caro learned this lesson the hard way at the European Athletics Championships in Rome earlier this year.
After covering 20 kilometers, García-Caro was approaching the finish line in third place, trailing Italian athletes Antonella Palmisano and Valentina Trapletti, who secured first and second positions, respectively.
Just moments away from clinching a bronze medal, García-Caro was seen smiling and raising a fist in celebration, which disrupted her steady pace.
She inched closer to the finish line, seemingly unaware that Ukrainian competitor Lyudmila Olyanovska was rapidly closing in on her.
In her moment of celebration, Olyanovska surged ahead to claim third place, leaving García-Caro stunned and disappointed.
The scene left viewers in disbelief, with one Twitter user remarking: “Imagine speed walking for hours and then losing at the end because you wanted to celebrate.”
Another commented: “Always give 100% until it’s over. The look on her face when she realized she blew it.”
After the race, García-Caro expressed her disappointment with the outcome.
“The first part of the race I suffered, but [I did] recover and in the last 10 meters I thought I had it, but I didn’t,” she explained to CNN.
“Now I have to assimilate [what happened] and heal my heart.”
García-Caro later addressed the incident on Instagram, finding a positive angle despite her disappointment.
“4th in Europe and ticket to my second Olympics,” she wrote. “Yes, sometimes people make mistakes at the least inappropriate time.
“Only staying with this is being unfair to me because it’s been hard to get here after a difficult time. And of this I am beyond proud.”
Despite the setback, García-Caro earned a spot in this year’s Olympics, where she completed the Women’s 20km Walk at Paris 2024 with a time of 1:28:12, finishing in seventh place.