Athletics | Wilma Murto made history – she won the Diamond League competition as the first Finnish woman

Finns get to celebrate the Finnish female winner of the Diamond League competition for the first time, when Wilma Murto bent his season-best 480 in London.

“The first Diamond League victory, I am really satisfied. Now it seems that the last training period of two or three weeks has produced results and this promises really good things for Budapest”, said Murto in an interview with C-more.

“I have come to the conclusion that yes, my goal is to get a medal, but we have a really tough summer in women’s sculls – there are really many medal candidates. Humbly just doing things, and after a medal.”

Murto, who attempted the Finnish record in the 486 competition, has previously finished second in the Diamond League at best.

Murto, who returned from the competition break, jumped as the early favorite by Katie Moon with the same result, but the American needed a 480 to surpass three attempts. Murto exceeded the height with the second one.

Finland sports association bulletin according to Murto jumped in the headwind of London for the first time with new fins. According to Murro, the goal in London was to test how the new fins work and what changes need to be made with them.

“Their [seipäiden] it was a really good feeling to jump with. The same feeling as the old ones, but I was already able to use grips that I would not have been able to do with the old paddles,” said Murto in the press release.

Murro’s new fins are 475 centimeters long. Previously, the jumper used 460-centimeter wings, which were otherwise similar in profile to the new ones.

After the Lausanne Diamond League, the Finn took a break from competition for a few weeks, during which time new wings were run in.

“Wilma managed to do one exercise with the smallest pole of this new set, but when the heights went up in this London competition, Wilma always had a new pole in her hand that she hadn’t jumped with before,” said Murro’s coach Jarno Koivunen.

Koivunen was satisfied with his protégé’s performances in challenging conditions.

“Excellent performance from Wilma. The conditions were anything but good. The wind was always against the weather, sometimes gusty and sometimes gentler, but always against the weather,” Koivunen beamed in the announcement.

“Fortunately, it’s my strength that the winds don’t interfere with what I’m doing too much,” said Murto.

In London, Murto cleared the starting height of 436 on his second attempt, 451 and 462 on his first attempt, and 471 and 480 on his second attempt.

For every victory in the Diamond League competition, the athlete earns 10,000 dollars, or about 9,000 euros.