Two Finnish fast paddlers in the EC final on Saturday was not surprising in itself, but the fact that one of them was a man was, writes Pekka Holopainen.
Pekka Holopainen
Athletics EC Championships 7.6–12.6. Ylen channels. See the schedule and broadcast information of the games at this link.
Finland’s historic haul of 10 European Championship medals from the previous European Championships in Rome in 1974 contained quite a special feature when you think about what Finnish athletics was known for, especially 50 years ago.
In the Eternal City, only one of the male endurance runners is an Olympic hero Lasse Viren took the medal.
The women’s 3000 meter run, which was first included in the competition program, was won in 1974 Nina Holmen. It is the last time that a Finnish female endurance runner has placed higher than Nathalie Blomqvist on Friday at the Rome 5000 meters.
Reetta Hurske made history on Saturday, the roots of which can be traced back more than half a century.
In 55 years, she became the first Finnish runner-up in the women’s high-speed hurdles competition on outdoor tracks.
Gentle treatment
From being very gently treated by the Council of Judges, and clearly realizing the matter himself, Santer From Kuusiniemi again, the first Finnish man in the final of the 110-meter hurdles competition in 30 years was crowned.
Nooralotta from Nezir this dream crumbled at the European Championships in Berlin 2018 in the thousandths comparison.
The data is interesting from the point of view of how sovereignly women’s hurdles and its top athletes have dominated the airspace of the Finnish athletics media for the past decade.
Wilma Burglary mixed Life Lampela went to the pole vault final.
Despite this, the start of the European Championships has above all proved that the funeral of Finnish endurance athletics, which is often despised, has been canceled once and for all in the old continent’s meddling.
The best value competition ranking
Battery Beard took 5th place on his new-old main course at 20 kilometers, the best ranking of his long race career.
Top Raitanen going into the preliminaries of the steeplechase, it seemed that the successful defense of the EC gold would not be a surprise at all.
Another EC obstacle finalist With joy Mononen has proven to be an absolutely huge talent in the steeplechase, who will soon break the Finnish record level into the early 9.10s.
Camilla Richardson had a hard time in Italy, but last year and this year has set new Finnish records for the marathon, the half marathon and the 10,000 meters.
In general, all national records for women’s smooth running distances, from 800 meters to the marathon, have been run either at or after the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
The top success of a Finnish endurance runner in the Olympic Games would of course still require an almost unrealistic feat.
The ultimate proof
Saturday night also proved once and for all that the Italian crowd will not be massing the stands of the Stadio Olimpico for the third ever European Championships in an Olympic year. The appeal of the stars of a traditional sport is not the same as the eternal superhero of the arena Francesco Totti.
The coverage was the best A-quality in terms of boot country and the very top of the world’s track and field sports tip: a young long jumper star Mattia Furlanithe number one contender for American scarecrows Leonardo Fabri, The reigning Olympic champion in the 100m Lamont Marcel Jacobs and the young gold train of express fences Lorenzo Simonelli.
The public success was not quite the same disaster as on the opening day on Friday, but not much else. I feel sad for the athletes of the host country who are currently floundering in the medal statistics with their own numbers.