Javelin thrower Marjaana Heikkinen, competing in the F34 category, finished sixth in the javelin final of the Paralympics.
Kamilla Rajander,
Emma Jump
1.9. 23:06•Updated 1.9. 23:26
Javelin thrower Marjaana Heikkinen finished sixth in the javelin final of the Paris Paralympics.
Competing in the F34 class, Heikkinen’s longest throw was seen on the sixth attempt, when the javelin reached 16.58.
China is celebrating its Paralympic victory Lijuan Zou with a new world record of 22.55. The javelin is already his third in a row, as he also won the javelin competitions at the Tokyo and Rio Paralympics.
China won the silver in the evening in Paris Caiyun Zuo with a result of 19.44. The bronze medal goes to Australia Dayna Creeswhose javelin curved with the opening throw to 17.65.
The Australian’s bronze result is eight centimeters shorter than Heikkinen’s season best of 17.73 in May.
– It hasn’t felt so empty in a while, Heikkinen stated immediately after the competition.
– You can only blame yourself. Everything was as good as it could be, and it didn’t happen until now. Maybe we need to start thinking about becoming a winter athlete, then the heat wouldn’t bite so hard, the Finn continued.
Heikkinen said that during the competition he tried to calm his mind enough to find his own throw. That’s why he didn’t follow what kind of result would be required for which placement before his turn.
– Maybe those award ceremonies were something I would not have wished for at that moment, Heikkinen said.
He alluded to the fact that he had to stop his performance a couple of times for a while during award ceremonies in other sports.
– Now, even with this experience, I couldn’t hold the cassette together so that one hand would have pulled and the other would have thrown. I feel that neither of them did the things agreed upon now.
The 57-year-old Heikkinen has won a medal in the javelin throw at the three previous Paralympics. In the summer of 2016, they brought home silver from Rio and bronze from London 2012 and Tokyo 2021.
After the competition in Paris, fresh from the competition, he could not yet say anything about the continuation of his career.
– Let’s say that now let’s sleep – maybe one night is not enough, but a few more nights – and let’s generally think about past actions and possible future actions. Tonight is definitely not a night of solutions.
Updated on September 1, 2024 at 11:25 p.m.: Added Heikkinen’s comments.