The Swedish Athletics Federation did not select runner Lovisa Lindhi for its World Cup team. Not everyone swallowed the decision to leave Lindh on the beach for the second year in a row.
Get in with the facts. Finland, Sweden and Norway have competed in all the World Championships in Athletics, the first of which was held in Helsinki in 1983. In 39 years, the World Championships have been held 17 times, and the gold medals are evenly matched between the trio: Swedish and Norwegian track and field athletes have been able to celebrate nine world championships, Finns seven. On the other hand, in terms of the total number of medals, the Finns lead the game by a narrow margin with 22 medals. There are 21 medals from Sweden and 17 from Norway.
More World Cup honors are up for grabs from the 15th to the 24th. July, when the most successful country in the sport, the United States, will host the World Championships for the first time on its soil, in Eugene, Oregon, on the west coast. The teams from Finland, Sweden and Norway are going to Eugene from different starting points: the expectations of success are on the shoulders of the Swedes and Norwegians, but the Finnish Sports Federation is clearly sending a bigger team to the games than their western neighbors.
Finland’s team size is 32, Norway’s 22 and Sweden’s 21 athletes. The Finnish Sports Confederation sends all eligible athletes to the World Championships, but compared to the reference countries, Sweden in particular took a stricter line in its selections.
Most of the Swedes have made the score line
If you look at the level of the teams sent to Eugene by the sports federations of the countries in question, Finland clearly stands out, especially from Sweden, when it comes to the number of those who redeemed their competition ticket at the result limit.
Nine out of 32 Finns, or 28 percent, reached the result limit set by World Athletics, the International Association of Athletics Federations, in their sport. 67 percent of the Swedes and 45 percent of the Norwegian team succeeded in the same trick.
Athletes who have reached the result limit are the absolute best in their sport. Absolute success, i.e. medals, is not likely for the athletes who come to the games from outside, i.e. through the ranking. 23 Finnish ranking athletes will be seen in Eugene. As a group, they are therefore bigger than the Norwegian or Swedish team as a whole.
– If the goal is to make the team as big as possible, then it won’t be big. But if we start with the potential for success ahead of us, it’s too big, a long-term Finnish manager Jukka Härkönen says and names the javelin thrower as the only domestic medal candidate by Oliver Helander.
– In his case, everything has to fall into place: qualifying with one and the final with two throws, one of which has to be damn long.
Helander has competed three times this season, in the two most recent of which he has thrown at full speed. In these competitions, the javelin has flown from his hand more than 85 meters, i.e. the result limit of the World Championships, the 89.83 seen in Paavo Nurme’s games as the crown. Because Helander is fourth in the current season’s world statistics.
Behind him, none of the 11 Finnish men is in the top 20 in the world statistics of their sport. Of the 21 Finnish women going to the Games, four are in the top 20 of their sport in the world statistics.
– The competition plan should be such that the competitions serve development for the main competition in terms of sport and coaching. If the Finnish Sports Federation has set a goal for all top national athletes that Eugene is the main competition of the season, then I accept it, says Härkönen.
How are the EC results?
The Finnish team could have been bigger by two more athletes. Under the result limit of 800 and 1500 meters Sara Kuivisto and the speedster who was locked in the World Championship place through the ranking Nooralotta Neziri however, announced well in advance that they are not available in Eugene.
Härkönen reminds that it is challenging for the Finnish athlete participating in Eugene (July 15–24) to build top condition for the European Championships in Munich (August 15–21). Before the trip to the European Championship, there are still at least the Kaleva Games (August 4-7), before which the World Championship athletes have to recover from the ten-hour time difference.
– When you come from the west towards the east, it’s always more difficult. All in all, the weeks will be a tight start, says Härkönen, but he thinks it’s important that the domestic top of athletics will also be seen fighting for SC medals in Joensuu.
– In my opinion, the image of any domestic sport cannot withstand the fact that the best national team does not compete in national championships. Only in the prestige competitions in their sport, the sovereign winner candidates can skip the SC competitions. Let’s mention a skier Iivo Niskanen and at one time a swimmer Jani SievinenHärkönen says.
In the future, Härkönen calls for realism from Finnish athletics decision-makers when it comes to setting the main goal for the season and consistently pursuing it.
An example of the design of the competition calendar is the Norwegian 400 meter rower Line Kloster, who ran a rock-hard European time of 53.91 on Sunday. Because Kloster, chosen for Eugene, is ninth in the current season’s world statistics and second in the European statistics. However, after the competition, he announced that he would skip the World Championships and focus on the pursuit of an EC medal.
Lindh’s treatment is surprising
If the selection line run by the Sports Confederation does not get Härkönen’s understanding, the Swedish decision-makers will not get through his handling with completely clean papers either.
In the Swedish Athletics Federation’s World Cup selections, special attention is paid to the 800-meter runner Lovisa Lindhi, who was not selected by the association for their team. The 2016 EC bronze medalist was left behind in the selections for the prestigious competition last year as well, when the Swedish Olympic Committee did not qualify Lindh, who had broken under two minutes three times, for the Tokyo Olympics.
Although the Tokyo selections were of course made by the Swedish Olympic Committee, the country’s athletics federation would certainly have had a strong say if it had wanted to.
– From what I have heard from my old Swedish colleagues, the Swedish Athletics Federation did not put a lot of pressure on the Swedish Olympic Committee, says Härkönen.
The Swedish decision-makers dropped Lindh from the Olympic machine because, according to them, she did not meet the internal Olympic selection criteria. According to the selectors, the athlete had to have a realistic chance of finishing in the top eight.
For comparison: Before the Tokyo Olympics, Lindh was clearly ahead of Finland in statistical times Sara Kuivisto, who was 0.13 seconds away from the Olympic final in Tokyo – that is, from among the top eight. Kuivisto’s semi-final time was 1:59.41. After the Olympics, Lindh ran 1:59.49, which, as a consolation prize, was below Eugene’s World Cup mark of 1:59.50.
This season, Lindh’s best result is the 2:02.24 run in June. At the end of June, Lindh froze in the fast-paced Stockholm Diamond League’s A-set, which started with a winning time of 1:57, and arrived at the finish line in 2:03.22. Finland, which won the B-set with a record of 2:01.14 and is running a sensational season Eveliina Määttänen seen running in Eugene, Lindh not.
– When in this case (the World Cup selections) the Swedish federation was the decision-maker, I assumed that Lovisa would have been shown mercy, because last year she was definitely treated wrongly, Härkönen says.
Lindh’s Dutch manager Jasper Buitink was tight-lipped about dropping his protege on Sunday.
– For now I will not comment on the matter, Buitink told Urheilu.
Lindh’s companions in fate
Lindh was not the only Swede whose World Cup ticket was not claimed by the Swedish federation, despite the result limit or ranking. An injured pole vaulter Michaela Meijer has exceeded the bar height of 440 three times this season, and he was ranked higher than, for example, Finland Elina Lampela. Lampela will be seen at the World Cup, Meijer will not.
A high jumper Fabian Delryd was a weaker athlete than the aforementioned Meijer and Lindh, but he too would have been entitled to represent the World Cup based on his ranking. No further.
Team manager of the Swedish Athletics Federation, high jump legend Kajsa Bergqvist was ruthless in his choices. Although not for everyone. Taking the above-mentioned cases into account, Bergqvist’s decision to select a 1,500-meter runner for the team sparked discussion Hanna Hermanssonwho did not fit into the top 45 runners in his category (was 47th) but was given the opportunity to represent due to absences.
In Sweden, considerable consideration was used for the World Championship places, which are distributed by ranking, while in Finland, all those who were able to compete were selected for the Games.
– For the majority of Finnish national-level athletes, the biggest goal is to be in top shape for the match against Sweden, and the goal of the few cream of the crop is to succeed in the European Championships. The World Cup level is, in huge quotation marks, more about gaining competition experience than moving forward. I will withdraw all my words if the majority of the athletes who qualified for the Games based on the ranking set their record in Eugene, says Härkönen.