Kristiina Mäkelä was in a promising mood at the triple jump carnivals in Lempäälä. He improved his record by six centimeters in permitted wind conditions.
20:39•Updated 20:41
Kristiina Mäkelän won the triple jump competition in Lempäälä in Lempäälä with a result of 14.50, but the winning result is not counted as a record because it was created in a slight tailwind (+ 2.4 m/s).
– During training, I already felt that the race would go ahead today. When that happens, it’s easier to make long jumps. The little one already started snapping in places.
– I was a little disappointed that the 14.50 didn’t go within the limits. That would have been such a nice read. However, I accept the result of 14.47 with joy, stated Mäkelä about his handsome, new record and his season improvement of no less than 33 cents.
In the end, Mäkelä left the last races unfinished when the tires started to run out in the heat.
– Now it was so hot and grinding weather that it seemed to go to the legs. The race started to run out, so it was decided to leave the race. I went into the race with a really relaxed feeling. It paid off and brought results. A very good feeling remained and now I can happily go to the Yankees (to the World Championships in Eugene) next Tuesday.
With his new record, Mäkelä is eighth on the world list this season.
– Statistics are a bit of paperwork for me, but it sounds good. I’ve sometimes been told that a triangle sharpener is at its best between the ages of 26 and 32. We are quite nicely in that bracket.
– Work pays off, coach Tuomas Sallinen with. We have been working together for a few years, and now it really starts to feel like we have done the training of a triple jumper and have a triple jumper’s body that can withstand blows, 29-year-old Mäkelä was happy.
Guaranteed finalist of prestigious competitions
Mäkelä has cleared the qualifiers for prestigious competitions with a high percentage, and he is a two-time Olympic finalist, a six-time European Championship finalist and once also reached the World Cup final.
– At first, the goal was only to reach the final, and then when the goal was to jump further there, there just haven’t been any conditions for that. Now there are prerequisites, but it still has to be successful on that day.
In the three previous women’s triple jump EC finals, with a result of 14.50, she would have reached at least bronze. At the World Championships, bronze was won in the triple jump in Doha 2019 with a result of 14.73 and in London 2017 with a result of 14.77.
– In the past, decisions have also been made that we haven’t even started doing any of those pretty, 14-meter jumps, but only those longer jumps have been applied for. If such a crazy day were to happen that at least these results would come out, then we would already be competing for medals, Mäkelä enthuses.
The last EC medal in the field sport achieved by a Finnish woman was no less than 20 years ago, when Heli Koivula achieved silver in the triple jump (14.83) and Mikaela Ingberg bronze (63.50) in javelin. On the hill and also At Senni Salmi if everything goes well, there is a chance to break the long, dry season and reach the podium on the 15th-21st. August in Munich.
The Finnish triple jump record is 14.63, set by Salminen last summer. Salminen was not involved in today’s carnival race.
Both Mäkelä and Salminen will travel to the World Championships in Eugene, where the jumping qualification will be held on Saturday evening, July 16 at 20:30 Finnish time. The final will start at 4:20 a.m. Finnish time on July 19.
– In Eugene, there is one day in between the qualifying and the final, and that suits me well. We now have a morning qualifier and then an evening final, there is a slightly longer breather than usual, which gives a little better seam for the rhythm change. It’s perfect for me, thinks Mäkelä.