Completing the European Championships for Lotta Harala, who is aiming for the final, has been a rollercoaster: “I haven’t run a hurdle race since Lahti” | Sport

The EC athletics championships will be shown on channels from 7th to 12th. June. See the Finns, schedule and broadcast times of the games here.

Lotta Harala and other women’s sprinters also know that usually a time of less than 12.85 is required to reach the EC final.

– I definitely think that it (the final) is possible. But it’s about getting a successful result in one run. And when you don’t know at the same time how your competitors perform. But a place in the final is definitely possible, says Harala, who clocked a time of 12.89 in May.

According to Harala, getting to the EC outdoor track championships has been a clear goal for him for a long time.

On May 11, in Leppävaara, Espoo, Harala startled by running the 100-meter hurdles with a terrible time of 12.64, but the result was not statistically valid due to a slight (+2.2 m/s) tailwind.

In any case, it was the fastest Finnish time ever run in women’s high-speed hurdles. At the European Championships in Munich in 2022, Harala’s wind time of 12.64 would have achieved silver.

A rollercoaster-like early summer

I have an expert Mikael Ylöstalo reminded at the time that Harala was already in very good shape at the end of April at the camp in Tenerife.

– A surprisingly eventful early season is behind us. There has been a little trouble, a hard result with a downwind and a little difficulty maybe in the games. It’s only the beginning of June, but the summer has been quite a roller coaster so far, Harala says.

On May 24, Harala was disqualified due to a false start in the fence final of the Lahti GP competition. Harala hurt himself a little and sprained his right ankle based on the TV picture. Harala had run second in the heat with a time of 12.98.

– It was nothing serious. I had a cramp in my right calf already during the training pulls. In retrospect, I definitely should have left the finals, but I couldn’t. It was good that I didn’t have to run further than those first steps in the final, says Harala, who calls herself a cramp-prone athlete.

Harala frankly admits that the preparation has not been optimal, because he has not been able to run fences in the last few days. He will have a total of 14 days break from authenticating.

– Actually, I haven’t run a hurdle since the race in Lahti. I had a little pinched nerve in that front leg and it’s been treated and I’ve been resting. Now I feel good and I can do strength training normally. I’m going into the heats with full confidence.

Harala admits that the situation has not been easy for him. Mentally, the right kind of attitude is required from the head coach, when he doesn’t get to run fences before the start of the EC.

– Physically, I think that this has made it possible for me to rest enough, emphasizes the Tampere resident.

– I’m in really good shape and I had time for a long spring to practice really hard, good fence training. Now you just have to trust that the condition is there and will stay. When the problems are fixed, the feeling is good.

Hurske goes directly to the semi-finals

The Finnish record for fences of 100 meters is Reetta Hurskeen 12.70 run in Jyväskylä last summer. Harala’s record is 12.85 run last summer in Switzerland.

– I would like to improve the record in Rome. It would be great to run in a value race. First, the goal is to reach the semi-finals, and then if you could run your best there, it would be great to reach the final, where there is a tough coverage. Of course, first you have to cleanly complete the preliminaries, Harala points out.

Reetta Hurske has broken the 13-second limit three times in May and set her best time of 12.85 (+1.1 m/s) on May 18 in Poland.

– There was something good in every race, which is then brought to these value races. Let’s hope that we can get everything right here and achieve a good result. I bet that with a time of less than 12.90 we will be in the final, Hurske guesses.

The 29-year-old Hurske does not have to use up his strength in the preliminaries, but he can go directly to Saturday’s semi-finals with the ranking.

– I haven’t really thought about whether it’s an advantage or a disadvantage. This is the situation now, Hurske says, and sets out to get the first outdoor race final of his career.