Salomé Afonso with frustrating elimination in the 1,500 meters

Portuguese Salomé Afonso admitted this Sunday her frustration with her elimination in the semifinals of the 1,500 meters at the Tokyo 2025 World Athletics Championships, after a clash with German Nele Wessel.

The runner-up at the European Indoor Championships Apeldoorn2025, and bronze in the 3,000, practically fell, at 800 meters, in the incident with the German, tried to react, but did not get beyond 10th place in the second semifinal, with a time of 4:15:08 minutes.

"In Brussels [in the Belgian stage of the Diamond League] I crashed. Here, I didn't crash, but the result was the same. It was a race perfectly suited to me, to my characteristics, but the near-fall at 700 meters ruined everything," he admitted.

The 27-year-old from Lisbon, who already set her personal best this year at 3:59.32, admitted to making a complaint, without any confidence in her success: "If it were in Rome," she said, alluding to the European Championships held last year.

"I still tried to react, but from the moment I changed pace, I realized I wouldn't have the strength for the final lap. I spent my energy trying not to fall, recovering, and trying to connect with the group," he explained.

The Benfica athlete lamented, above all, the loss of form, with this outcome: “I tried my best, to try to qualify anyway, thinking that requalification might be possible, but I think it will be very difficult, but that's part of it.”

These statements, in the mixed zone of the Japan National Stadium, seemed to predict the decision of the judges, who relegated Nele Wessel, who was the protagonist of the incident with the Portuguese athlete, to the final, despite finishing in 11th place, behind Salomé Afonso.

"It's very disappointing. I think I'm in excellent shape and I've worked hard to be here. Honestly, I almost would have preferred to have had a perfect race and not made it through, because they were better, than here, once again in this season with great moments, but also very unpleasant situations... it's very frustrating," he lamented.

Even so, 2025 ended up being a year with two medals at the European Indoor Championships, an eighth place at the Short Track World Championships, but, above all, a personal best of under four minutes.

"The truth is, I think I managed to meet expectations for the European Championships, but after that, I wasn't able to prove myself. I only ran a fast 1,500-meter race, a 3.59, a personal best, but far from what I think I'm capable of. Today, I think it was the race for me, and once again, it was an external situation, which we can't control," he concluded.

While the protest from the Portuguese Athletics Federation (FPA) is pending, Salomé Afonso finished the 1,500 meters at Tokyo 2025 in 21st place, improving on the 37th place she placed on her debut in Budapest 2023.

National record holder Carla Sacramento (3:57.71) was crowned champion at this distance in Athens 1997.