13/06/2020   Zivilė Vaiciukevičiūtė ends his career at just 24 years of age






 

 

Zivile Vaciukeviciute, elected by the Lithuanian Athletics Federation as "best athlete 2019", has decided to surprise us all and to end her sporting career at only 24 years old.
 
Zivile justified his decision with the effort accumulated over the years and many months away from home, but with well-defined plans for his future in which, however, she did not imagine continuing her life in sport and had already considered the idea of devote herself to the family after the Tokyo Olympics, presumably in 2020.
 
But the COVID-19 pandemic and the postponement of Tokyo Games changed her plans, and Zivile who made the decision and contacted the federation.
The latter, faced with the unexpected and even incredible choice of the athlete, asked for a pause for reflection so that she could rethink her decision, in order to complete the Olympic cycle. However, the decision had already been well thought out and made, with Zivile thanking coach Viktoras Meskauskas for all the work.
 
In 2018 she reached a fantastic 5th place in the 20km of the European Championships in Berlin, recording the second best time ever in her Country, with 1:28:07.
 
Her day of the days was May 19, 2109 when she faced her main opponents in the European Cup "at home" in Alytus, achieving a historic victory in 1:29:48 which had given her direct qualification for Tokyo.
She had not shone (only 23th) at the Doha World Championships.
 
In a recent interview, Zivile Vaciukeviciute said that despite her success, and especially after winning the European Cup, she never really felt rewarded, so the decision to end his career was not difficult to make.