At the WA Continental Tour Athletics Competition in Berne, Switzerland (Citius Meeting) on Saturday, Modesta Morauskaitė secured second place in the 400m despite extremely challenging weather conditions.

morauskaitė finished the race in 53.26 seconds, behind Egypt’s Hemida Bassant (51.64) and ahead of Dutch athlete Myrt Van der Schoot (53.50).

Morauskaitė described the conditions on her instagram account: “During the day, the weather was very good, it was predicted that the rain would only start at 8pm in the evening, and our run was scheduled for about 6 pm. As soon as we were lined up for the presentation,’fun’ began – it began to pour as a bucket and blow the belekoks hurricane wind. The cones settled there began to blow sideways… the track was no longer running but swimming.”

The athletes were taken off the track and waited in a tent as the wind and rain continued. After multiple delays and warm-up attempts, the race finally started.

“Summary – We were given to the start of 45 minutes. We ran to the track, and my only thought was to survive those 400m. There was no talk of any result… I am glad that among really strong girls, I have been able to teach that second position with nails…this event has been the first time in my career,” Morauskaitė said.

Dutch athlete Eveline Saalberg, who finished fourth, added: “It was a run you want to forget.”

Mary John yemi, a British athlete who finished fifth, emphasized that it was the first time she had to run in such bad weather.

Polish athlete Kinga Gacka, who finished eighth, shared morauskaitė’s post, adding: “No more comments.”

Morauskaitė holds the Lithuanian record (50.49) from 2022. Her best result this season is 52.30 seconds.