Athletics European Championships | Disappointed Samuli Samuelsson uploaded the direct words: “I think it’s wrong and unequal”

Sport|Athletics European Championships

Samuli Samuelsson knows in his heart what is coming, but a small spark of hope keeps him standing near the finish line in the courtyard of the Olympic Stadium in Munich.

When the final 100-meter heat of the European Athletics Championships has been run and the results are flashed on the board, Samuelsson starts to walk disappointedly towards the interview area. The expected and hoped-for semi-final place did not come off.

“The mood was really good and I felt good in training, but I didn’t get what I expected. Vex. The semifinal spot was up for grabs.”

Samuelsson was fourth in his heat with a time of 10.39. It looked even better during the run, but the third place and the direct continuation place were five hundredths away.

“It was a pretty smooth run throughout,” Samuelsson said.

He had lifted his sunglasses off his eyes. They say “fast” in small text.

“The glasses were faster than the man.”

One and only the runner made it through the time comparison. The runner of Ikaalisten Ureilidiets grabbed that spot, but in the third set they ran too hard. Even Spain by Sergio López the thief’s start and rejection did not save Samuelsson.

“I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t be able to continue in that time. Usually you need 10.30 and lower parts for the semi-finals.”

Now the place was released at 10.33.

Samuelsson downloaded the direct words about the rules of the European Championships even before the heats. In the 100 meters, the top 14 in the ranking went directly to the semi-finals. There were therefore only ten further places available in the initial rounds.

“I think it’s wrong and unequal. The salt of prestigious competitions is that everyone goes through the same rumba”, Samuelsson said on Sunday and the opinion at least did not change after the preliminary round.

“I don’t like it, and I’m sure neither does anyone else who runs the preliminaries there. I hope that it will be changed and everyone would be on the same line”, he said after the run.

The aim of the rule was to ensure that Europe’s fastest runners participate in the European Championships and do not miss out at least because of too tough competition.

What kind of impression does the personal journey of the European Championships really leave?

“Not at all.”

Samuelsson has picked the fruits of three years’ work this summer. Sure, he’s been running since he was young, but the last few years he’s been a coach Mikael Ylöstalo with have been a time of development, training and rehabilitation.

In 2019, Samuelsson did not run the race due to Achilles strain. Around that time, many people told Samuelsson that he missed the best years of his career.

“For a while it seemed that I couldn’t run anymore. I wasn’t about to give up, but it was difficult then,” the runner recalls.

Partly because of that injury, the Ikaalite runner has “different pairs of legs”. After the surgery, the left ankle has been even stiffer than before. The ankles do not move in the same way, which is why one foot’s contact with the running surface is slightly sharper than the other. Only a very trained coach’s eye can notice that in running.

The work done was already rewarded in July in Porvoo, when Samuelsson ran a Finnish record of 10.16. It was a key run, the kind he dreamed of repeating, but it didn’t hit Munich.

Samuelsson has developed especially in terms of speed. He enters the maximum speed phase, i.e. from about 40 meters to 70 meters faster than before. Samuelsson is starting to get his full potential out.

“His talent for speed is top class for Finnish conditions. Very often you don’t come across something similar,” says coach Mikael Ylöstalo. “He works humbly and doesn’t start whining.”

Samuelsson there are still instant messages ahead in Munich. There, Finland has a chance even for a place in the finals and an SE result. The level of sprinting has risen in Finland.

“Finland has begun to understand a little what sprinting is. It’s an art form of its own. Now we understand a little better what a really hasty run really requires from an athlete’s body,” says Ylöstalo.

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