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Alena Abramchuk
Alena Vasilyeuna Abramchuk, née Kapiets (Belarusian: Алена Васілеўна Абрамчук (Капец); born 14 February 1988)[1] is a Belarusian track and field athlete who competes in the shot put. She was the bronze medallist at the 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships. Her personal best is 19.24 m (63 ft 1+1⁄4 in), set in 2013. CareerShe began competing at national level as a teenager and made her international debut at the 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics, competing in both the shot put and discus throw events.[2] Her first international medals followed in 2007 with silver medals in the shot put at the 2007 European Athletics Junior Championships and in the under-23 section at the 2007 European Cup Winter Throwing. She was also fifth at the Military World Games.[3] She began attending A.S. Pushkin Brest State University, studying in the physical education department.[4] Abramchuk focused more on shot put after 2007 and repeated her under-23 winter silver medal with a personal best of 16.69 m (54 ft 9 in) at the 2008 European Cup Winter Throwing, then again at the 2009 edition. She improved her best to 17.97 m (58 ft 11+1⁄4 in) that season and claimed a trio of bronze medals at the European Team Championships, Summer Universiade and the European Athletics U23 Championships.[3] She added two centimetres to her best in 2010, but did not compete internationally.[2] She established herself among the world's top throwers at the start of 2011, throwing a best of 18.82 m (61 ft 8+3⁄4 in) in Minsk, which ranked her in the top twenty shot putters that season.[5] Abramchuk won her first national title indoors in February 2011 then claimed her first international win at the 2011 European Cup Winter Throwing, beating France's Jessica Cérival. She made her debut on the IAAF Diamond League circuit in Shanghai and ranked fifth at the Universiade.[3] Another best of 18.90 m (62 ft 0 in) the following February saw her again ranked in the world's top twenty in 2012.[6] She failed to match this form in major competition, being eliminated at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships and placing fifth at the 2012 European Cup Winter Throwing.[2] She threw beyond nineteen metres for the first time in January 2013 with a mark of 19.06 m (62 ft 6+1⁄4 in). A bronze medal at the 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships – her first podium finish at a major championship – marked a new high.[4] She was the national champion indoors and outdoors that year and regularly threw beyond eighteen metres in competition. She placed second to Russia's Yevgeniya Kolodko at the 2013 European Cup Winter Throwing and had several top five finishes on the 2013 IAAF Diamond League circuit.[3] Her best that year was 19.24 m (63 ft 1+1⁄4 in), set in Minsk, and she was a finalist at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics.[2] In the 2014 season she was eliminated in the qualifiers of the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships, but made the final of the 2014 European Athletics Championships, coming in ninth place. At the 2014 European Cup Winter Throwing she was again beaten by Kolodko of Russia. She came close to another continental bronze at the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships, beating narrowly beaten into fourth by Radoslava Mavrodieva. She set a best in the discus of 55.16 m (180 ft 11+1⁄2 in) in taking her first national title in that year, but missed the 2015 World Championships in Athletics.[3] National titles
International competitionsReferences
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