Athletics EC Championships 7.6–12.6. Ylen channels. See shipping information at this link.
The Finnish record holder in the 400-meter hurdles Viivi Lehikoinen (54.40) got directly to the semi-finals of the European Championship thanks to the ranking.
On Monday afternoon, the Dutch star Femke Bolin in the semi-final dominated by Lehikoinen, he fought until the last tens of meters for placing in the top two of the heat and for the final.
In the end, he finished fourth in his heat with a time of 54.92. However, Lehikoinen improved the season’s best by almost a second. He’s had enough problems due to overexertion.
In the interview, Lehikoinen admitted that there was a bright light at the end of the tunnel.
– It’s been quite a difficult few weeks. Last week went completely under the bench. Last Tuesday I was thinking that I’m definitely not coming here. Last Friday I was crying again and I was like, it doesn’t make any sense. Even Verkka felt bad, Lehikoinen said.
He said that he tried to think that this was not the preparation that was wanted, but that does not eliminate the possibility of success. Under 55 seconds is an excellent bet considering the conditions and the record result.
– I’m really proud, even though I didn’t get a place in the finals today. That’s a really good performance.
In the time comparison, a time of 54.65 was required for the final. Lehikoinen has run below that four times in his career.
Now Lehikoinen was already satisfied with his decision to come to EC Rome.
– Top sports life is such that sometimes there is uncertainty. I’m not the best at it, but maybe at this age you have to learn to tolerate it, Lehkonen thought.
After the reign and with the state of overexertion, it has been difficult for Lehikoinen to recharge for the Games.
– Although the hall season was quite good in terms of results, I was very disappointed with it. I felt like I lost faith in the process. It has been visible in competitions in such a way that I haven’t believed in myself.
– Then it hasn’t really been exciting. If you feel the same in the 400-meter hurdles as you do in training, the end will not pass.
According to Lehikoinen, it has been seen in the games that Napsu’s performance has fallen short from the mental side. That is why he has had problems with his fence technique, among other things.
– Now I was nervous for a couple of days, so I knew it was a good thing. Athletes may think that tension is a bad thing. When you lose it, you realize how important it is in sports and how much it brings to the competition.
Halonen struggled with his health problems
Kristiina Halonen ran his record 55.62 in the preliminaries of the 400 meter hurdles on Sunday. Now in the semi-finals, he was behind with a time of 55.83.
Halonen was already thinking on Sunday how he can recover for Monday’s semi-final. After the semi-final, the voice was subdued in the interview.
– I came to fight. Of course I was a total wreck. I’m sure I can’t really act anymore. This is not in the books of the healthy, a really tough fight today, Halonen said and burst into tears.
Halonen did not want to publicly reveal his health situation in more detail.
– There is nothing to tell about it. As long as I want to say that I don’t do this kind of thing like in value competitions. Don’t take the model.
In the midst of the emotional outburst, Halonen was proud and satisfied with his EC career.
– If yesterday the fences were, Tuomas Lehtonen I said, a little less fucked up, so today they were fucked up. However, the two hardest runs of my life and the head is like a mammoth, so I have to be proud.
Speed running coach Petra Stenman considered Lehikoinen’s run to be balanced, even though the fences came “a little over”. In the end, Lehikoinen had a good period, which was a great sign.
– I can’t say whether the difficulties have been resolved. This certainly gives confidence and Viiv has a good training season behind him. You have to remember that. Sometimes that fitness comes from there.
A convincing opening bet from Määttä
No less than 11 Finns were seen in the morning session of the fourth day of the race, one of whom advanced. The women’s 800 meters took the next place Eveliina Määttänen. He finished second in his heat with a time of 2:01.59 and progressed to the semifinals in style.
Määttänen has run under two minutes a couple of times this season and has also improved his record.
His record is 1:59.59 in the Stockholm Diamond League at the beginning of June. Finland’s record is Sara Lappalainen 1.59.41 from 2021.
There was no need to go under two minutes in the first round. Määttänen had made a clear plan for the first round.
– Yes, it went as I expected. Along the way, the pace was quite brisk, but not super fast, so everyone stayed in a tight pack. I had to watch a bit to make sure I didn’t get caught in the bag, which would prevent me from passing on the final straight. I wanted to be at the top, to be in the attack positions.
In the semi-finals, you need to go under two minutes, because there are, in Määttänen’s words, that many “women in good shape”. Judging by everything, Määttänen is ready for that.
– It has felt really good. I believe that my condition has been sensitized to a good model.
Määttänen’s spouse and coach Jan Petrac also spoke of self-confidence in the stands. He stated that the only goal of the preliminaries was to grab a direct continuation spot and did not believe that Määttänen had to put everything into the game.
Qualifiers
In the women’s javelin throw, 57.71 meters would have been required for the final. Anni-Linnea Alanen was 21st in qualifying (53.03), Jatta-Mari Jääskeläinen 27th (52.50) and Sanne Erkkola 29th (51.36).
Competed in the first heat of the women’s 200 meters Aino Pulkkinen had to worry for a long time about the next place. In the end, he was two hundredths away from the semi-final spot. Pulkkinen was 13th in the time comparison with a time of 23.44.
Anniina Korttemaa was 17th in the 200 meters in the preliminaries with his best time of the season 23.53.
Men’s pole vault qualifying Armand Duplantis went to jump only once and exceeded 560. That was the result to advance to the finals. The Finnish trio qualified when Urho Kujanpää and Tommi Holttinen exceeded 545, Juho Alasaari 525.
In the Monday evening episode, there is enough for Finns to be excited about, when they compete in the finals Wilma Murto, Elina Lampela, Silja Kosonen and Top Raitanen.
Urheilu follows the European Championships moment by moment in this article.
Athletics EC Championships 7.6–12.6. Ylen channels. See shipping information at this link.