Pole vaulter Saga Andersson missed the qualification and did not get the result. Andersson, who fell into the pit, assured that he was fine.
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The pole vault qualification was Saga for Andersson, 23, very difficult. Andersson was recorded three ticks from the starting height of 420, and he did not reach the final competition.
Andersson didn’t get over the bar even once, but all the attempts were in limbo. After his second jump, Andersson fell badly into the pole pit, but was still able to continue the competition after this.
– Now Saga’s speed run is messed up. The step doesn’t hit the pothole. This is very rare for Saga this summer, not to be able to make a jump, Urheilu’s expert Tuomas Raja comment after the second tick.
“I didn’t trust what I was doing”
Andersson jumped a total of five times, as he did not cross the vertical line passing through the upper edge of the pit box of the jumping place on two occasions. Thus, he was allowed to start his jump again.
Andersson says that he had difficulties right from the training jumps. He got good jumps at 12 paces but not at full speed.
– At the end of the training, I got one OK jump, but in the competition they were the same as in the grid. I just didn’t trust what I was doing. The run was a leap, and I didn’t work in the air, Andersson commented to Urheilu.
However, falling into the pit did not cause injury.
– I didn’t hurt (myself). All right, Andersson laughed.
Execution was certain
Raja reminds that Andersson had competitions a few years ago when he couldn’t finish. This season, the execution has been more certain and Andersson has jumped his record 450.
– This is a bad failure for Saga. This kind of performance on the World Cup stage is guaranteed to take a toll. He took silver at the Kaleva Games and his jumping confidence has improved, but today Saga didn’t have the package, Raja added.
Saga Andersson’s coach and father Bjorn Andersson opened his view to Urheilu, why Andersson failed to qualify.
– Test jumps at least at a shorter speed work well, but as soon as he tried the test jump at full speed, he gave way too much with his lower hand right at the beginning of the jump. It was similar in show jumping, Andersson said immediately after qualifying.
– If you immediately bend the lower arm, the jump will not move forward. I don’t know why he did that. After the race, I have to think about what was wrong.
Wilma Murto cleared the qualification cleanly and crossed the height of 465. Elina Lampela on the other hand, he failed to qualify with a result of 450. He was very close to surpassing the height of 460.