The European Championship in Rome started on Friday morning, but the organization of the competition has already received a lot of bitterness.
Even on the eve of the race day, the stands and toilets of Rome’s Olympic stadium, or Stadio Olimpico, were in terrible condition.
Ticket sales have also been sluggish and the games started to almost empty stands despite the very cheap ticket prices.
The first Finn on Friday morning was a 7-match Saga Vanninen. He timed 13.60 in the 100-meter hurdles and finished 11th.
The result is disappointing considering that Vanninen was even promoted as a medal candidate. In his record series, Vanninen ran 13.48 and the record is 13.34.
However, Vanninen has suffered from back problems during the training season and had not done sport training before the European Championships, so there were enough uncertainty factors.
There were also difficulties in Rome on the morning of race day. The bus ride from the hotel to the stadium took much longer than expected, an hour and a quarter.
– It is unfortunate and painful for the athlete if this happens. Arrival times fluctuate a lot in the morning rush hour. It’s a pity that the initial warm-ups have to be done there in the corridors of the bus, said an expert on ‘s broadcast Tuomas Raja.
GM of the Finnish team Jani Tanskanen had said he got to the stadium in 35 minutes, but the next bus ride had taken twice as long.
Vanninen’s coach Jesse Jokinen stated that Vanninen’s authenticity was not at its best.
– I got down a little bit (running position) and a bit of a crowd. Not quite the opening that was hoped for, but things will continue from here, towards the next sport.
Jokinen stated that Vanninen had time to warm up sufficiently.
– Of course, an athlete can remember when they sit on the bus longer than normal. A trip 45 minutes longer than normal, but it’s like this sometimes when we’re in value races, and apparently in Italy, Jokinen grumbled.
The coach said that the bus was stuck in traffic due to a crash.
– Then it looked for a new route, but that didn’t quite work either.
Button move from Lotta Harala
Also got stuck in traffic Lotta Haralabut he cruised from the preliminaries of the 100m hurdles to the semifinals in style. Reetta Hurske made it to Saturday’s semi-finals directly based on his ranking position.
Harala’s time of 12.91 was the biggest draw of the heats. It is also the fastest time ever run by a Finnish woman at the European Championships, expert Raja notes.
– I woke up with a good feeling right away. It doesn’t necessarily correlate with the result, but basically it’s more comfortable when you have a good feeling from the morning, Harala smiled.
– The network went a little abbreviated, but just fine. I started to focus only on a sure start and at least no sneaky starts. It went as planned, a clean and safe run.
At the season opener in Leppävaara, Espoo, Harala clocked the all-time Finnish time of 12.64, but the tailwind was a bit too much (+2.2 m/s) to be statistically valid. Since then, Harala’s times have been in the 12.9 class.
Harala also arrived at the European Championships in an uncertain situation. He had not run the hurdles since the Lahti GP race (24.5.), because he suffered at least from a pinched nerve in his leg. It meant forced rest from fence training.
Now, however, Harala showed that the goal of the EC final is realism.
– The rest has really helped. I feel it (nerve pressure) if I sit or move, but it’s not painful, so a very good situation.
Harala wasn’t startled by the bus adventure at all and it didn’t spoil the glorious feeling of the morning.
– It’s quite good that there will be some small surprising change, at least you’ll be awake then. If there had been a more uncertain feeling, it could have increased the stress.
Logistics sucks
The competition arrangements have been talked about in the Finnish team before. GM Jani Tanskanen stated to Sanoma, that the Belstay hotel was not what the Finnish team wanted. At least the hotel’s gym is non-existent.
The transportation arrangements between the race venue and the hotel in advance were the most annoying, because already on Wednesday it took an hour to get there.
No special arrangements have been made due to the games, instead the buses will be running among other traffic. Normally, the trip from the hotel in Finland to the stadium should take half an hour.
– There is still not much else to tell about Rome other than that there was a traffic jam when we went to the competition venue today, Reetta Hurske stated.
There were bus rides between the stadium and the hotel only every hour. When it’s still hot in Rome, the waiting and the trips become difficult for the athletes.
– It can’t be that the bus only runs every hour and the athletes have to wait in the heat, Tanskanen grumbled to Sanoma.
Tanskanen was not confident that the problem would be solved, as it was not solved last summer at the World Championships in Budapest either, even though feedback was given on the subject.