Reetta Hurske will compete today, Sunday, in the women’s 60-meter hurdles EC semifinals at 9:55 a.m. The final will be run today at 19:55. See the broadcast information of the European Championship at this link.
Staying healthy, the right training load, consistent performance and growing as a top athlete.
The same themes are repeated as well as the quick echo Reetta Hurskeen that his coach Marjukka Suihko in interviews, when they are asked where Hurskee’s top results in the 60-meter hurdles come from.
Making five Finnish records during the same hall season has not been a big surprise for Hurskee and Suihko.
You can see from the duo that they share the same world of thought and know each other well. Suihko has been coaching Hursk for almost 17 years.
– It was in the fall of 2005, when we met for the first time in Pyrinnö’s junnu group. I was with the group a lot and later as its coach. I don’t quite remember our first meeting, but it was during those training sessions, Suihko tells Urheilu.
At the time of the first meeting, Hurske was a primary school student, ten years old. Suihko’s daughter and Hurske are in the same age group and trained in the same junior group. Over the years, the principal of Pirkkala co-ed high school became Hurskee’s personal coach.
Now the duo’s long sky has brought Hurskee to the top. The runner from Tampere will enter the women’s hurdles final in Istanbul on Sunday as the early favorite and with the third best time in the world this season (7.79). For the runners participating in the races, the time is the hardest of the season.
“You don’t do this every day to be third”
Hurskee’s talents in hurdles were revealed in his junior year, although he was also involved in other sports. Suihko told in 2019 For Aamulehti (you switch to another service)that Hurskee, who won gold at the 14-year-olds and silver at the 15-year-olds, had a promising future in standing competition because he didn’t want to jump high.
Instead, his exceptional reaction speed was evident from the start. That and a few other features drew me to hurdles.
– I have always been particularly good at running and I have a sense of rhythm. Of course, I did other things for a long time, but through an injury, when I got back to serious training, that’s how hurdles became my thing, Hurske says.
Hurske says that his coach has always been inclined to go through studies related to the sport himself and to learn more by studying them.
– Marjukka had already familiarized herself with coaching hurdlers a little earlier, but along our same journey she has also learned quite a lot about the sport, she reflects.
Over the years, Hurske has always stayed close to the sharpest edge of the fence. In 2013, he was fifth in the 100-meter hurdles at the 19-year-old European Championships in Rieti, Italy. The following year, he was seventh in the World Championships in the same age category in Eugene, USA.
In Finland, Hurske had to get used to third places for a long time. In the tough country of fast-trackers Nooralotta Neziri and Annimari Korte were alternately in Tampere’s way.
– You don’t do this every day to be third, Hurske sums up.
Power, speed and confidence
Pika-aturi moved in November 2020 for a while Antti Haapakoski to be coached, but returned to Suihko’s coaching already in March 2021.
– Then the idea of what kind of training programming works for me was confirmed for me. I thought at first that I need something new for my training. But then when it changed too much, it didn’t work for me, Hurske opens up about his decisions at the time.
– Now I know how I should train and what things develop me.
For this season, he has gained more strength and speed.
– Even between the games, strength training is actually the only thing I do at Pirkkahalli when I get home to Tampere. There is so much running during the competition season, Hurske states.
Coach Suihko describes that in addition to physical qualities, the Tampere’s mental side has developed.
– This season has definitely given Reeta more self-confidence. The fact that the times have remained so hard and they repeat themselves even if there are other best runners in Europe and the world next to them.
Coach and loved ones for help
Hurske’s fortitude has been shown by his performance this season. There have been many hard and challenging starts in the early season, but he has been able to achieve consistently strong results.
He says he is especially happy that the performances have now come with his basic performances. Hurskee’s and Suihko’s effort to standardize the performance of the quick-sounder has borne fruit.
– I think the biggest thing for an athlete is to have the self-confidence to compete. Even if you perform well only in some competitions or trainings, it is a different thing to make it to big competitions, says Suihko.
Last season was bumpy for Hurskee. After breaking the EC championship limit in the early summer and breaking under 13 seconds, the end of the summer was affected by the passing of Hurske’s grandfather, which happened while the rower was already in the United States preparing for the World Championships.
In more difficult moments, Suihko has closely supported his protégé. Hurske says, for example, that in the past he received help from mental coaching for his competitions, but he has not used them this year.
– If there is any concern, my coach and my loved ones are the first to help, Hurske says.
– And I don’t know how I would have used the help of a spiritual coach even now that everything has gone well. Of course, it could be kept alongside this if there were any difficulties. I’ve certainly found a good way of working for myself, in relation to competitions.
If you don’t smile, something is wrong
One of Hurskee’s close ones is his partner, who plays basketball at SCMU Craiova in Romania Topias Palmi. The halves of the elite athlete couple are able to share the daily life of their respective sports with each other, even though the distance now limits their visibility.
– It makes it easier that we can talk about our sports-related issues and he understands that. Although our sports and the performance in them are slightly different. When in my own sport you can’t make a single mistake in competition performance, and in another one, the first miss doesn’t ruin the whole game, Hurske describes.
– Our approach to everyday life is the same.
Hurske’s attitude towards elite sports is clear. Time is invested in training, competing and recovering. This is exactly what his coach Suihko points out as the thing where Hurske has changed in recent years.
– He is now an experienced competitor and can control the competitive situation. His ability to concentrate on competition situations and the variables in them has improved. No radical changes have taken place, but he has grown into a top athlete.
Even though Hurske and Suihko invest in the fact that the exercises aim to simulate competition situations and practice fences as hard as possible, things don’t happen too fast.
– In training, everything doesn’t have to be so serious, even if we do it seriously and with hard goals. If you don’t smile even once during training, something is wrong, Hurske explains.
– Why would I spend my energy on the fact that I had a bad workout and worry about it until the next workout? It doesn’t improve me at all, he concludes.