The career of an average distance runner has developed step by step to a record pace in Ari Suhonen’s coaching. At the Belgrade World Championships, the goal is the first value final.
Runner-up Sara Kuivisto has numbed the athletics audience with its Finnish records. Last year, he recorded eight record results in the statistics, and in the beginning of the reign, there have been a total of four of them at 800 meters, 1,500 meters and miles.
Beating the long-chased 800-meter Finnish record and two minutes below the Tokyo Olympics made Kuivisto’s eyes sparkle, but now the feelings are mixed up, as the Finnish records have fallen at every start of the hall competitions.
– It feels like a little ashamed. I feel that somehow I have even ruined the whole SE concept, Kuivisto describes his mood.
– Even people can’t even congratulate anymore. Everyone is but that “aha, again”.
At the same time, of course, the situation is also stingy, as it underscores the development he has built over a dozen years with his coach. Ari Suhonen with.
– I am in a situation where my own record is always also a Finnish record, Kuivisto continues in an interview on International Women’s Day.
– In the current situation, Sara’s records sound nicer than they are. He is only improving his records, but they also happen to be Finnish records, Suhonen says.
The duo can now enjoy effective co-operation, mutual trust and earnings news in every corner of Finland.
Finnish team at the World Championships in Athletics Hall Tracks in Belgrade, Serbia 18-20. March:
Gentlemen:
60 m drive: Ilari Manninen Jyväskylä Field Athletes.
Length: Kristian Pulli Oulu Pyrinth.
Ladies:
60 m: Lotta Kemppinen HIFK freestyle Helsinki.
1,500 m: Sara Kuivisto Borgå Achilles.
60 m drive: Reetta Hurske Tampereen Pyrinto.
Jump 3: Senni Salminen Imatra Athletes, Kristiina Mäkelä Orimattila Jymy.
The career is on track
The starting shot of Kuivisto’s international running career was the victory at the 2018 Kaleva Games in Jyväskylä, with which he determined the result limit of the 2018 European Championships in Berlin.
– This is where my valuable race tube begins, Kuivisto declared.
It has come true. Kuivisto has experienced a series of value races in Berlin, the 2019 World Championships in Doha and the Tokyo Olympics last summer.
He struggled hard for the final places in Tokyo. Now they are real goals in the World Championships in Belgrade on 18-20. March and at the Eugene World Championships in July. With the current development curve, the next step is to register for the medal competition at the European Championships in Munich in August.
– It is possible that Sara will fight for the European Championship medals in the summer and the final place in the World Cup hall competition is now a realistic goal, Suhonen assesses the current situation.
Short track and long step
Kuivisto ran the Finnish record of 1,500 meters of indoor tracks at 4.06.14 in late February in Torun, Poland. He is ranked 14th in world statistics and second in European statistics.
The result confirms the development of Kuivisto, especially on the main distance of 1,500 meters during the hall season, and especially because the hall tracks of 200 meters are difficult for his exceptionally long running step.
The hall competitions are the most demanding competitions for him.
– Competing on short tracks is challenging for my type of runner also because I am not such that I can swing at the top all the time, Kuivisto explains.
– I like to leave a little quiet and get tough the rest. In the hall, though, it’s hard because passing with short straights is so damn hard.
Success requires both vigilance and quick reactions.
– If you plan to go straight, the decision must be made in the previous turn, because the straight is so short, Kuivisto continues.
– On the hallways, there is half the time for solutions on the track of less than 400 seas. That’s why they have to leave the spine.
Insanely strong confidence
The dryland developed rapidly at 1,500 meters last summer to the same level as he is at 800 meters. The racing routine is still not as solid as on a shorter trip.
– I may not have the same certainty with a tonne-tonne as with a pile, because I have had more tough 800-meter races during my career, Kuivisto admits.
On the other hand, he is an exceptionally strong runner-up, which he confirmed in his four Finnish record runs at the Olympics.
– It’s terribly nice to go to the championships, because the pace is usually better for me than in some hare races. I am at my strongest in typical value races, where the start goes a little calmer, Kuivisto emphasizes.
– Now, of course, I’m in such a condition that even a harder starting pace is suitable.
Tokyo’s full-fledged runs will also boost Kuivisto’s self-confidence, thanks to the fact that the duo feel in control of the timing of the season.
There are good steps to finish the exercises, but more important is the mutual trust of the duo. Kuivisto believes in Suhonen’s training program and the coach in his rival qualities.
– There is probably no equally one hundred percent right way to do things in sports. It is more important to believe one hundred percent in what is being done, Kuivisto recalls old wisdom.
At this point, Kuivisto and Suhonen are strong.
– We think like crazy, Kuivisto laughs.