Finland’s track and field athletes will finalize their fitness for the Paris Olympics at the GP race in Joensuu on Saturday. will show the race on Areena and TV2.
SpongeBob Forsberg,
Petra Manner
will show the athletics GP race in Joensuu on Saturday, July 20. Broadcast on Areena at 6 pm and on TV2 at 7 pm.
Tampere Pyrinnön Reetta Hurske lost her Finnish record for women’s fast fences on Sunday, when a teammate Lotta Harala rose to new SE readings of 12.65 in the race held in Switzerland.
Hurske admits that winning the title of Finland’s fastest rowing woman takes a toll.
– Of course, it’s annoying now that it’s no longer in your name, but there’s nothing you can do about it at the moment. Let’s try to run harder ourselves, Hurske said at the Joensuu athletics stadium on Friday.
He believes that he will get the record back for himself in the future, possibly already on Saturday in the GP races in Joensuu.
– Hopefully it will happen maybe even here (Joensuu), or in Paris or after that. The goal is to be in the best shape of my life at the Olympics. Let’s wait for it to be there. If not, then sooner or later.
Hurske is looking forward to Saturday’s race.
– When a teammate comes next, there’s always a tough race. Let’s hope for good conditions. It’s a fast track here, no complaints.
Lotta Harala, the recent Finnish record holder, thinks that the tight competitive situation among rowing women is a positive thing.
– I think that we both really, really want to win, and both are in really good shape. Neither of them will get a profit unless they succeed really well, says Harala.
– It’s something that really moves both of them forward. You always have to put everything into the game and do well to win another one.
Harala says that with his SE result, he has regained his self-confidence.
– June was really difficult and self-confidence shook and wavered quite a lot. Now I’m back where I was in the spring.
Helander challenges Etelätalo
Tight competition can also be expected in the men’s javelin, where they are perfecting their fitness for the Paris Olympics Oliver Helander and Lassi Etelätalowho competes on his home field.
Helander suffered from a small flu after the European Championships in Rome.
– My condition dropped a bit there. I hope the little training period was good. You’ll see that tomorrow, says Helander.
The European Championship bronze medalist has had technical problems after being ill, which was a shame, for example, in the Kaleva Games, where he was third.
– It seems that there have been problems in almost every area. The legs haven’t worked. This has led to other problems. Hopefully the legs will work better tomorrow.
– I believe it will be a good race. Lassi probably throws well on his home field. We’re trying to make life difficult for Lass, probably with someone 83-85 meters tall.
Reigning Finnish champion Lassi Etelätalo throws his last race in Joensuu before the Olympics. The last time he competed in Vaasa was in the Kaleva Games three weeks ago.
Behind is rest and a couple of weeks of hard training. He is looking for sure throws from Joensuu.
– I don’t necessarily expect the best result of the season – of course that wouldn’t hurt either – but if the technology would work quite reliably, then that would be good. It is important to get the pace and rhythm to the end. It’s important to hit. The final phase will be good if the previous phases are right, says Etelätalo.