Windsurfer Jakob Eklund and 49er FX sailors Ronja Grönblom and Veera Hokka have secured Olympic places for Finland in Paris.
Matti Lehtisaari,
Johannes Oikarinen
16:26•Updated 16:45
Windsurfer Jakob Eklund has secured a place for Finland in the men’s iQFoil category of the Summer Olympics in Paris. Eklund took fourth place in the quarterfinals in the Olympic qualifiers in Hyeres, France, and thus secured an Olympic place in Paris.
– It was a wild week. Not the hardest week physically, but mentally even harder. Only those who did not yet have a place competed here. Everyone did their best, Eklund told Urheilu.
Eklund was still outside the top ten in the race on Wednesday, in 12th, but the two starts of the evening brought him into Thursday’s closing day.
– I managed to squeeze in two good performances on Wednesday night. I managed to put all in today (Thursday), it now resulted in a land for Finland. Really relieved and feeling good, Eklund described his mood.
For the first time, Finland gets a representative in men’s windsurfing at the Olympics. On the women’s side Tuuli Petäjä-Sirén reached Olympic silver in the RS:X class at the 2012 London Games.
Another Olympic spot for Finland on Thursday
Thursday was a great day for Finnish sailors, when Ronja Grönblom and Veera Hokka secured an Olympic place for Finland in the 49er FX class.
Nora Ruskola finished in eighth place in the semi-finals in the Formula Kite category and narrowly missed out on a place. Aleksandra Blinnika sailed 14th in the women’s iQFoil class and also missed out on a place.
People have already been selected for the Paris Olympics before Sinem Kurtbay and Central axis (Nacra 17 class), Monika Mikkola (ILCA6) as well as Kaarle Tapper (ILCA7).