At the end, Topi Raitanen showed the Swedes where the locker was
Mika Halonen,
STT Sports
Athletics Sweden-Finland match on channels on Saturday and Sunday, September 2-3. Online, the match is followed in this article.
Top from Raitase In the athletics Sweden-Finland national match, a handsome cry broke out. The European Championship winner started the last round of the 3,000-meter steeplechase like a pike out of the gutter and left the three Swedes far behind.
Of course, Raitanen’s winning time was a modest 8:41.39 in rough and windy weather. Raitanen stated after the race that the last lap had to be cut from the pace that was maintained in the race.
– There was such a Swedish match spirit. The elbows rattle a bit, we run man against man and at the end the Swedes are shown the place of the locker, Raitanen summed up after the race.
Raitanen pulled the hose almost the entire time and decided the race with his snarl. Three Swedes finished next, so the points for the sport were recorded in Sweden’s favor 12–10.
– At the end, I showed who rules here, Raitanen added.
Raitanen won the European Championship in Munich last year, but this season has been a big disappointment. The season’s best 3,000 meter steeplechase time of 8:22.00 was set in June. In August, Raitanen missed the preliminary rounds in Budapest at the World Championships with a time of 8:30.69.
– The most special season of my career. I started with a record (3:38.47 in 1,500 meters in May) and finished with really bad races.
After the disappointment in Budapest, Raitanen prepared for the national match with a relaxed mind, but considered participation a foregone conclusion.
– A few rounds of golf and morning runs, he carved.
During the summer, Raitanen has openly talked about his difficulties, which were mainly due to the training plan. Him and the coach Janne Ukonmaanaho had also drawn up an aggressive competition plan, which according to Raitanen did not work.
One of the reasons for the training plan was that next year the European Championships will be held in the early summer and later the Olympics. Raitanen tried to test that he would be in a hard attack throughout the season.
– Such is sport and life. Sometimes you have to take risks, but now they materialized in the worst possible way, Ukonmaanaho lamented in Budapest.
Fatigue struck, Raitanen drifted into overexertion. Raitanen collapsed at the Paavo Nurmi Games in early June. The time 8:43,46 was anything but what it should have been.
The overworked state was the sum of bad nights of sleep, traveling and a tight competitive pace. Raitanen said at the Kaleva Games that he can’t put himself in a tight spot. Due to fatigue, he couldn’t quite reach the maximum range he wanted in his running, and he couldn’t work there.
When Raitanen, 27,’s competitive spirit began to decline and fatigue weighed on his body, Ukonmaanaho would have liked to end the game quickly.
However, it was not successful, because the agreements between the national team athletes and the Finnish Sports Federation include that when healthy, the athletes must wear the Finland tracksuit in certain competitions. So Raitainen had to run in Poland during the Midsummer weekend in the EC team competitions.
– Well, yes, I’ve hit my head against the wall with Janne many times during the summer, summed up Raitanen in an interview with during his season’s match against Sweden.
– Things have now been put on paper, we are sharpening the plan for next year and we are more ready. Let’s go back to fighting for medals.
Athletics Sweden-Finland match on channels on Saturday and Sunday, September 2-3. Online, the match is followed in this article.