Nathalie Blomqvist made history in the Olympic 5,000 meters final. The Finnish sensation answered the second hardest time of his career in a tough place.
Joel Sippola,
Petra Manner
The second best time of my career in the Olympic final (14:53,10). One of the sensational athletes of the Finnish athletics summer Nathalie Blomqvist was 12th in the final race of 5,000 meters, leaving three athletes behind.
In the evening in Paris, Blomqvist made history by running as the first ever Finnish woman in the 5,000-meter Olympic final. Earlier this summer, the 23-year-old Finn was a fantastic fifth at the European Championships in Rome.
At that time, he broke down Annemari Sandellin 12 seconds from old SE time to 14:44,72.
– It feels incredible. I couldn’t have thought that I could stand on the starting line. It was already a tough experience that I was involved.
The cream of Europe
Blomqvist would have had a decent shot at the Finnish record, but the structure of the run was not as he would have hoped.
In the beginning, we kept a calm pace, but accelerated towards the end. Kenyan By Beatrice Chebet the winning time was 14:28.56.
Originally, the runner-up was a big early favorite Faith Kipyegon, which was however rejected due to blocking. Silver Holland Sifan to Hassan and surprise bronze for Italy For Nadia Battocletti.
The fact that in addition to him there were three other Europeans in the Olympic finals says something about the toughness of Blomqvist’s performance. In addition to Hassan and Battocletti, Blomqvist was ranked ahead of the Europeans by Norway Karoline Bjerkeli Grövdahlwhich was seventh.
– I was in top shape. I knew I would have been able to knock seconds off the record. It wasn’t an optimal run, but that’s how value races are. I will learn from this.
– It started to feel like a fast pace. The run felt relaxed and went well until the end. However, it was not the same as in the heats.
A new identity
Blomqvist’s entire summer has been a blast. Already at the beginning of the summer in Oslo’s Diamond League, he also beat SE in 3,000 meters (8:32,23). Before that, the Finnish record (8.41.30) was 33 years old Päivi Tikkanen in possession.
Just a year ago, he fancied himself a 1,500-meter runner. He stated at the time that sometime in the future he might try running the 5,000 meters.
– The whole season has been a big surprise. I’ve done a lot for work.