Urheilu’s expert Tuomas Törrönen expects success from familiar athletes from the World Para Athletics Championships in Paris.
Anu Karttunen,
Jouko Vuolle
The World Para Athletics Championships will be held in Paris from July 8 to 17. will show the games from Tuesday 11.7. from Shipping information can be found here.
Paralympic athletes have been talking about the World Championships that started on Sunday as “Paris number one” for a long time, because in these games not only World Cup medals are awarded, but also places for next summer’s Paris Paralympics, i.e. “Paris number two”.
Sports expert Tuomas Törrönen according to the situation makes these World Cups the toughest in recent times.
– No fewer than four of the best from these games get a direct spot in next year’s Paralympics. It does attract athletes from all countries now, Törrönen said.
– Now that fourth place in these games is not bad at all!
The possibility of Paralympic places increases the value of these World Cups. According to Törrönen, it’s only good that athletes have to succeed in certain big competitions.
– And yet now we are already a year away from the Paralympics. The ground allows the toughest athletes to focus on the Paralympics.
Of course, the World Championships are available even after Paris, because next May in Kobe, Japan, the prestigious championships, which were postponed from 2021 due to the corona virus, will be held. At that time, the Paralympic places are divided by category for the best two.
An experienced team
Finland has a very experienced team participating in the World Championships in Paris, as among other things the participating track and field athletes have previously brought no less than 30 medals from the World Championships. According to Törrönen, a medal can be expected even now.
– The pace of almost all bowlers looks very good. I expect success especially from those who are used to expecting success: Toni Piispanen, Amanda Kotaja and Leo-Pekka TähtiTörrönen listed.
There are also first-timers in the Finnish team. Sprinters Vilma Berg and Iida Lounela his guide runner Henrik Lounelan are now participating in the World Championships for the first time. Also ranked this spring and ranked third in the world Teijo Köpikkä is now taking part in his first para-value competitions.
– Teijo is a very interesting athlete and a fully potential medal athlete already in these first prestigious parasports competitions. As an uninjured athlete, he already has a bronze medalist from more than twenty years ago, but now he has a new career as a para athlete, Törrönen stated.
Weak conditions for warm-ups
The competition conditions in Paris are warm and the course is great, although it is not a particularly fast course for the curlers. However, according to Törrönen, the training conditions are exceptional, as a decent training field is 14 kilometers away.
– There is no warm-up field next to it at all, so the winders have to warm up with rollers. There is only a small area where you can warm up. The heating conditions are quite weak.