The performances of Nahuel Carabana and Arthur Abele raised emotions at the European Athletics Championships. From the Finns, Topi Raitanen, Krista Tervo, Silja Kosonen and Santeri Kuusiniemi advanced to the final.
Mika Halonen,
Petra Manner
The European Championship week in Munich can be seen on channels from August 11 to 21. You can find live broadcasts, highlights, the competition schedule, interesting news and topics on ‘s competition page.
Nahuel Carabana based on statistical times, was the weakest in advance in the first heat of most 3,000-meter hurdles. The next place was not expected, but the 22-year-old Andorran melted the hearts of the crowd at the Olympic Stadium in Munich.
In the first round of the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, great sportsmanship was seen after about two kilometers had been advanced. of Denmark Axel Vang Christensen fell from the top spot on a dry obstacle.
Carabana stopped to help Christensen, who was left on the track in pain. The forces were not enough to lift the competitor, but Carabana helped the Dane aside on the inner tracks before continuing on his way.
The heat was won by Italy with a time of 8:30.67 Osama Zoghlam. Carabana finished last, more than a minute ahead.
At the stadium, the audience showed a standing ovation when the Andorran was on the goal line.
In the video below, you can watch Christensen’s fall, as well as Carabana’s stop and the finish line. The story continues after the videos.
“The decision to stop was an intuition”
After the preliminary rounds, Carabana commented to Urheilu that the decision to stay and help Christensen was not easy, but it happened on the spur of the moment.
He said that he would of course have wanted to run as hard as possible and have a successful race, but he didn’t really believe in the next place. The decision to stop was an intuition when he saw the Dane fall.
for the sports expert Tuomas Rajalle a touching moment reminded me of when a cross-country skier Juha Mieto pushed Bill Koch on top of the hill and Koch later told how he remembers the best part of his sports career how “a big Finnish grapple grabbed the starving man’s back and threw him on top of the hill”.
The situation between Miedo and American skier Koch happened at the Innsbruck Olympics in 1976, when they were skiing 50 kilometers. Koch has remembered (you switch to another service) For Iltalehti, how he was totally broken in the first race of his career, but when Mieto helped him on the hill, he knew that he had to make it to the finish line.
– Sport is really great at its best. Raja felt in the commentary room that medals can be even more beautiful.
Arthur Abele’s day contained quite a range of emotions
Another situation that talked about the morning came from the decathlon. In the third round of the 110-meter hurdles, two false starts were seen, the latter of which was a rejection for Germany, who competed in front of the home crowd To Arthur Abele.
Abele could not believe the situation and finally burst into inconsolable tears after being escorted off the track.
You can watch Abele’s rejection in the video below. The video continues after the video and picture.
Based on the video, it seemed that Abele didn’t start any others before, but the sensitive measuring devices reacted for one reason or another. It also caused a discussion on Twitter.
Germany made a protest about the situation, which went through. About the subject your tweet (you will go to another service) among other things, the director of coaching and training of the Finnish Sports Association Jarkko Finniwho answered the long jumper Tuomas Rouvalin to tweet.
After Germany’s protest went through, Abele ran the 110m hurdles alone. He clocked a good time of 14.50 compared to the starting points.
Abele, 36, is a decathlon champion who won European Championship gold in Berlin 2018. He hasn’t competed much in recent years, but entered the match in Munich as the reigning champion.
Abele has announced that these games will be the last of his career. Although the German is not in the top fight, he made the most of his solitary fence performance as the crowd cheered wildly.
Watch Abele’s rerun in the 110-meter hurdles in the video below. The story continues after the video and pictures.
Before Tuesday night’s two events, the javelin and 1,500 meters, the decathlon is led by Switzerland, who pulled off a wild long jump of 831 yesterday Simon Ehammer (7,202 points). Second is Italy Dario Dester (6,852) and Estonia in third place Maicel Uibo (6,788).
Tervo, Kosonen and Raitanen from Finns to the final
Top Raitanen certainly ran into the finals in the 3,000m hurdles. He finished in fifth place, i.e. in the last place qualifying for a direct final place. The time was 8:33,51.
Raitanen stated that he could calmly observe how the group disperses. The job was under control the whole time.
The World Championships in Oregon went wrong because of stomach problems, which Raitanen has been suffering from throughout the summer.
– Everything is under control. It’s easier to run when you have energy in your body, Raitanen said.
Raitanen commented on Friday night’s finale that “everything is fine”.
You can watch Topi Raitanen’s interview in its entirety below.
Sara Killinen was without a result in the women’s moukari.
Silja Kosonen finally improved the qualification in the A group to a result of 68.25. Kosonen, who was seventh after Group A, was really disappointed and did not believe that the result for the final was enough.
You can watch Silja Kosonen’s interview in its entirety below.
In the end, both Kosonen and in the B group threw Krista Tervo made it to the finals. A result of 67.68 was enough for that now, while 68.64 was required for the final four years ago in Berlin.