Ever since she captured European junior silver eight years ago, Yekaterina Sharmina has been quietly establishing a reputation for herself that could bear fruit at next year’s senior championships in Zurich.
Before that is a date with the Final of the Diamond League in Brussels this Friday where the Russian will be hoping to repeat her Berlin performance from last Sunday when she crossed the line first on the famous blue tartan.
The second peak in Sharmina’s career after that junior success in 2005 came at the European indoors in Paris two years ago where she finished in bronze running under her maiden name Martynova.
But her London Olympic campaign was not distinguished as she failed to progress beyond the heats.
This year is a different story, however, as the 27-year-old from Bryansk, south-west of Moscow, has finally come out of her shell, emerging as a serious contender for major honours in her own mind as much as for observers of the sport.