Ilona Mononen broke Sandra Eriksson’s ten-year-old Finnish record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase final. The super promise has already improved its record by almost 50 seconds.
Joel Sippola,
Laura Arffman
Athletics EC Championships 7.6–12.6. Ylen channels. See shipping information at this link.
Only recently focused on the 3,000 meter steeplechase Ilona Mononen has written quite a few Finnish stories about the early period. The super promise in his twenties has improved his old record in the early season games with a rabble.
Mononen, who ran in his first prestigious adult competition, already improved his record from a couple of weeks ago by five seconds in the preliminaries. In Sunday’s final, there was a crunch when Mononen broke by Sandra Eriksson SE (9:24,70) of the named distance with a time of 9:23,28 and was handsomely fifth.
Initially, the Finn’s ranking was sixth, but the ranking improved dramatically when the first to cross the finish line was France Alice Finot crashed due to track failure.
Gold went to Germany Gesa Felicitas Krause before Britain Elisabeth Bird. After rejection, Romania took the bronze Stella Rutto.
No Finnish woman has been able to do better than Mono in the hurdles at the competition level. This is Finland’s sixth place in these games.
Territory occupation is really new for Mono. He ran the 3,000m hurdles for the first time last year (10.12.64). This summer, the runner from Ahkera in Lahti has improved his record by almost 50 seconds in four races.
10.12.64 (2023)
9.41.29 (2024)
9.36.88 (2024)
9.31.08 (2024)
9.23,28 (2024)
– Pretty incredible. I don’t believe this to be true at all. This feels like a dream, a disbelieving Mononen commented on his achievement after the final.
Mononen was surprised that he recovered so well from the heats.
– I have been broken before after previous runs. Now I just wanted to get on the line again. Running felt so good now. Now, for the first time, I felt like I was really hard at the obstacles. There was fatigue at the finish line.
Another wound
Mononen is enchanted by his new main trip.
– I see obstacles only as objects that you can go over. I enjoy being able to focus on more than just grinding out a steady run. It’s gimmicky.
– The water barrier is a fool’s errand. I’m constantly afraid that something will happen to it.
Mononen is not afraid of being hit in runs. In the beginning, he got a wound in his knee. Mononen revealed that he also got a wound during the final.
– I’m not afraid to use my elbow. I don’t know where it comes from. Doesn’t feel too aggressive.