Athletics Istanbul EC Indoor Championships 2.3.–5.3. Ylen channels. See the program and broadcast information at this link.
The Finnish track and field athlete goes to the adult competition as the early favorite.
The sentence in question has not been heard in Finnish athletics for a long time. You have to go back at least 10–15 years, when a javelin thrower Tero Pitkämäki was, among other things, the winning favorite at the World Championships.
Quick beeper Reetta Hurske is now in such a situation in the 60-meter fences of the EC halls in Istanbul. He has been it at the latest since Poland Pia Skrzyszowska the season was cut short due to injury.
The performance level of Hurskee, who is now number one in the European Championships, is convincing. The average of Tykkilähätti’s five best results is clearly the best of the group, 7.82. The peak is the current SE time of 7.79.
However, in a sensitive species, the differences are small. There are other winning candidates, such as France Cyrena Samba-Mayela and Switzerland Ditaji Kambundji.
Hurskee’s toughest challenger is a very tough value race athlete, Holland Nadine Visser.
In the preliminaries run on Saturday morning, Visser was the fastest with a time of 7.88. Hurske was the second fastest with a time of 7.93.
The women’s 60-meter hurdles semifinals are scheduled for Sunday morning at 9:55 a.m. The final will run on Sunday at 19:55.
A great competitor
Both Visser and Hurske are both athletes born in 1995 who have competed in the same Games since the 2014 World Youth Championships. While Hurskee has become Europe’s top rower this season, Visser has been one for many years.
In 2018, he fenced in the 60-meter hurdles for the World Championship bronze. He has won the previous two championships in the EC halls and is now looking for his third title. Two years ago, he won with his record of 7.77.
In the 100-meter hurdles, he is fifth in the Olympics and in the World Championships he has been sixth at the best in that distance. Annimari Korte knows Nadine Visser well.
They trained together for the first time in 2019. Visser was coached for several years Bart Bennemawho served as Kortte’s coach for a while.
Visser, who went to Istanbul as third in statistics, has run 7.85 at his best this season. After Hurske, he has been the second most consistent paddler.
Korte describes Visser as an athlete who starts his season relatively moderately, but speeds up as the prestigious competitions approach.
– In value races, he usually runs the best of the season. This year, Nadine started much harder than before. He has not reached the kind of result he is capable of at his best.
Visser ran his smooth 60m record 7.22 two weeks ago. The four-year-old record was broken by eight hundredths.
– His speed is clearly better than ever before. He certainly has potential for a record, Korte refers to the 60-meter hurdles.
Korte says that a few years ago, he was the only training partner that Visser competed against at camps. Nowadays, Visser gets to train the youngster By Zoë Sedney with.
– He didn’t get good results in training (in Holland), but when we ran in camps together, he ran really hard times. There is a clear difference when someone is running next to you, says Korte.
Visser’s secret to success
Coach Bennema told Korttee what Visser’s good performances in the value races are due to. Visser is a physically strong athlete.
– Bart said that it is easier for a strong athlete to run well in prestigious races. The level of fitness does not vary as much with a not so strong athlete. Nadine is physically and mentally very strong.
Korte, who himself competes in the EC halls, believes that Hurske, Visser and Kambundji form a medal trio. Korte explains why Hurske is still the favorite.
– The level at which he has run has been incredible. Reeta’s technique is so good that she can run so smoothly.
The level has fluctuated with other tough names.
– Others may have minor problems. They are not as sure as Reetta. However, Nadine and Ditaji have both caught fire in the value competitions. I think the fight will be really tight.