The walking legend rooted his protégé through a challenging season.
Paris Olympics on channels 26.7.–11.8. Go to the competition website here. You can find the entire program of the games here.
PARIS. Race walker Aku Bearden went to Paris to win the 20 km Olympic medal, but it became clear early on that the goal would not come true. Partanen arrived at the finish line in 32nd place, almost four minutes behind the medal.
– Yes, it quickly became clear that today is not Aku’s day. He was a little yo-yo already at 3-4 kilometers. Just hang in there, coach Partanen Valentin Kononen left the race disappointed.
– Of course, the athlete hopes that it will go away, but when it doesn’t, it doesn’t go away. The lactates hit the peg at the tissue.
However, Partanen’s result was not a surprise to Kononen. Kononen said that Partanen fell ill at a fateful time for the Olympic project, a good week after the Kaleva Games.
– Someone got a cold. Aku was out of the game for a week. It made me feel pretty low. There was no training for five days.
Spot painting
Although Partanen is 32 years old, he is only at the beginning of the 20 kilometer walk.
The first start of the 20th prestigious race of his career resulted in the sixth place in last year’s World Championships.
– If last year every exercise was successful in the last six months, now there was the same patchwork. Of course, fierce optimism was still on.
In June, Partanen finished fifth in the European Championships, despite the fact that the spring training was also overshadowed by health problems.
– There were problems in the area of the upper respiratory tract. There were breaks in training. I did have a little doubt that Aku could go for a walk here. A couple of bad workouts were really good, the same level as last year, Kononen said.
However, the illness ate away at the fitness base and sharpness. According to Kononen, the day-to-day fluctuations were large, which made Partanen’s earnings difficult to predict.
– The situation was a little bit of style all the time, let’s hope, let’s hope.
Praised the attitude
Despite the difficulties, according to Kononen, stopping was not an option for Partane.
– The focus was on taking every back until the end. This is the Olympics. Here we put everything on the line. I told Aku before the race that here you can get the most out of the machine. You can’t ask for more.
– I am proud of the work that Aku has done and how he focused on the end of the Olympics. All stones were turned, what could be done.
Four additional years
Kononen described the outcome of the Olympic project as disappointing.
– The focus was on getting a medal. It was believed.
According to Kononen, the cooperation with Partanen will continue at least until the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
– The results of the last few years have been so good (9th in the 50 km at the Tokyo Olympics and 6th in the 20 km World Championship and 5th in the European Championship) that there is no need to make any big changes in training. Although there was no award today, the direction has been right.
– The continuation has not been terribly thought through. That’s how much Aku has communicated to me that he will continue for four years, Kononen said.