“I saw there was one there”

This is what the Finnish record holder in the women’s 400 meters has held for 35 years Tuija Helander For Urheilu. Helander ran in 1987 at the World Championships in Rome with a time of 54.62. Today Viivi Lehikoinen pinked two hundredths faster at the World Championships in Oregon.

– It has been asked so much over the years about who breaks it and when. Now it’s up to Viivi and Viivi will be able to answer questions in the future, Helander lingers on the phone.

Helander had the bell ringing for Lehikoinen’s semi-final run. The 22-year-old Lehikoinen has actually been the only reason why Helander has woken up to watch the World Cup the previous two nights. Otherwise, he has watched the races as a recording.

According to Helander, Lehikoinen’s run looked good and was really balanced.

– Viivi can still improve that. I also heard that there was a headwind on the back straight. It is always something that weakens the results in Nelonen’s fences. When there is a tailwind on the back straight, you can expect some tenths off the rest of the time, says Helander.

You can watch Tuija Helander’s Finnish record in the video below.

According to Helander, time can also be saved for rhythm changes. In his SE run, Lehikoinen switched from a 15-step rhythm to a 16-step rhythm earlier than usual.

– The change of rhythm must always be done fresh, because it is easy to get tangled up with extra tithes. In my opinion, Viiv still has a change of rhythm, something where he can improve his times, Helander sees.

– In the beginning, his rhythm change got a little extra, 1-1.5 tenths. I always clock these runs, and look at the fence intervals. This is such a work of a sports freak.

Helander is still closely involved in the sport. He coaches two Nelonen aturi, Frida from Hämälä and Heidi from Salmi. Among them, Salminen won the youth world championship last summer.

Lehikoinen first caught Helander’s attention at the Vaasa Kaleva Games in 2013. Lehikoinen was 13 years old at the time. He ran sixth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 60.82.

– I saw that there is someone who can take it (SE). I saw that he took up the sport at a young age and ran the same time as I did when I was 16.

The following year, Lehikoinen was the second runner-up in Finland’s statistics, but he was not allowed to participate in the Kaleva Games due to the new age limit. Only athletes who are at least 16 years old in that calendar year could participate in the individual series of the Kaleva Games.

However, Helander says that he has closely followed Lehikoinen’s career. He reminds that in 2017 Lehikoinen ran 56.49 in the under-19 SE. After that, more difficult years followed.

– It’s so typical. It won’t go straight forward, but there will be those difficult years, says Helander.

– Viivi has admirably fought, fought, been brave and believed in himself at a time when the general public might have thought that this was it. I take my hat off. Viivi is a good example for all young athletes that you shouldn’t give up until all the stones have been turned over.

Helander believes that the Finnish record achieved by Lehikoinen will give the sport a new kick.

– I just put it For Petra Stenman message that this kind of kick was now given to this sport. We have a good situation, especially on the women’s side of the Nelonen fences. There are new ones coming up and lots of young girls making promising results. This was such a kick for the sport that we will surely get more buzz as they say nowadays.