Greg Duplantis thought Wilma Murto was a medal favorite, but understood that pain is not something to play with in an Olympic year. The Finnish team’s muscle maintenance guru praises the tough solution.
From his son of Armand Duplantis coached the pole vaulter of all time Greg Duplantis62, has followed with interest as well Wilma I break career.
Father Duplantis, who once jumped 580 himself, competed in Finland several times in the 1980s and 1990s. At the time of the World Championships in Budapest last summer, he predicted that Murro would exceed five meters even this year and considered him the medal favorite at the World Indoor Championships.
The prediction took a small setback on Saturday night in Glasgow, when Murto, who exceeded 455 in his last attempt, put the whistles in the bag to the surprise of even Greg Duplantis and stopped the race. The achilles pain that struck on the race trip in France on February 24 disrupted the entire World Cup finish, and Murto didn’t want to risk any more.
– The threshold to stop the competition is high for an athlete of his caliber. Last summer (July 21) I tried to get my son to stop competing in Monaco because he was suffering from severe leg pain. However, he refused, Greg Duplantis recalled the Diamond League competition, where Armand Duplantis jumped a really modest score of 571 for him.
A little familiarity would have been tolerated
Greg Duplantis is sure that Murto has suffered a lot of pain. He believes that the reigning European champion, both outdoors and indoors, would have taken a risk if it had been about small feelings.
– There is so much time until the Olympic Games. I believe that Wilma will be back to normal very soon. Nothing more special was seen here than that in a sport like athletics, things almost always don’t go the way the athlete and coach would like. When the situation was not stretched beyond that, it is also very unlikely that anything negative would remain in the subconscious.
Greg Duplantis is preparing with his son for Sunday night’s World Cup shooting. In the previous Indoor Track World Championships 2022 in Belgrade, the Swede jumped the then ME 620, which has since been improved by three centimeter.
Since 2020, at this point in the year, Duplantis has already jumped between 610 and 622 every year, this year “only” 602.
– The results have been weaker than the actual condition. Everything is fine, father prepares for the WC climax.
The muscle guru praises the solution
He is highly respected as a muscle maintenance professional for the Finnish team in Glasgow Pentti Niemi. He hasn’t treated Murro in Scotland, but talked about Achilles problems in general.
– The effort was already clearly visible in Wilma’s speed run. Achilles pain typically means that the tendon fibers are severed. The difficulty is definitely not reduced by jumping from the pole at the World Championship level.
– If it had gotten worse, the European Championships in Rome (at the beginning of June) would probably be far too soon, and then there would be a rush with the Olympic Games. The whole season plan would be renewed, not good at all.
In his long career, Niemi has also seen and treated several athletes who are, so to speak, at the end of their useful life and are consciously competing with chronic pain.
– Watching from the sideline, it’s mentally hard work, when the athlete knows that in every race it can hurt, and big. Yes, it easily affects the performance level as well.