Christian Olsson at the Swedish championships in Malmö (© Hasse Sjögren)
Malmö, SwedenChristian Olsson, who a couple of weeks ago made a sensational comeback jumping 17.24m in his first meet in a year due to injury problems, was the most eagerly anticipated competitor in the Swedish championships held on Saturday to Monday (1-3) in Malmö.
And Olsson didn't disappoint – but once more this rainy summer the weather was a major disappointment. Olsson opened his Triple Jump final with a controlled 16.72m jump which certainly left the impression on the onlookers that he had much more to show in the upcoming rounds.
Olsson on Berlin – ‘My heart says yes, but my head says no’
But after Olsson had aborted his second attempt the weather pounced heavily: The Malmö Stadium was completely drenched and the intense rain continued for an hour and a half and not surprisingly Olsson decided not to risk anything and passed his remaining four attempts. A wise decision and the truly un-jumpable conditions were illustrated by the fact only one of the other 11 competitors managed to improve after the second round.
After the competition Olsson announced that he had decided not to go to the World championships in Berlin, and that decision had nothing to do with what happened in this competition.
“I would have loved to go and my heart says yes, but my head says no,” Olsson said. “For me it is still too early in the season and I am not prepared for a World Championships. I don't have the consistency necessary to be able to take only one jump to advance to the final and I am not certain that my body can handle many all-out jumps within a short time frame.”
400m specialist Johan Wissman chose the 200m in Malmö and during the heavy downpour he ran a 20.75 winning by 0.36 which he considered a quite positive test of his speed.
“Of course you are somewhat conservative in your approach to the race in this kind of weather,” Wissman said. “Now it will be nice to go to our precamp in Austria for the final tune-up in some hopefully more sprint-friendly weather.”
Green and Tornéus impress despite conditions
The Swedish championships marked the return to competition for high jumper Emma Green after a few weeks of taking care of some Achilles problems. This comeback turned out very positively as Green improved her 2009 top mark to 1.96m. She then called it a day not attempting any higher heights.
A month ago long jumper Michel Tornéus cracked the 8m-barrier for the first time jumping 8.11m and now he clearly proved that was not a one-off achievement as he after a huge foul in the first round recorded 8.09m while still barely getting his toe on the board in the second. Even though the Long Jump is extremely strong this year Tornéus thus proved that he has the ability to challenge for a place in the Berlin final.
Others heading to Berlin who bolstered their confidence with new national titles were discus thrower Anna Söderberg who got her 17th straight gold after reaching 61.04m, Heptathlete Jessica Samuelsson who took the Long Jump in 6.31m (just 1 cm off her PB), and 800m runner Mattias Claesson who after a slow 56.8 opener blasted a 53.0 second lap when the rain was at its maximum intensity.
For the pole vaulters Jesper Fritz (fresh from his win at DN Galan) and Alhaji Jeng the competition could not be concluded. It had to be cancelled with the bar at 5.34m when Jeng hadn't even started vaulting.
The dreadful weather also spoiled all chances for hurdler Philip Nossmy to get the IAAF B-standard 13.62. Nossmy, who has returned this year after missing three years due to injuries, still got the satisfaction of defeating perennial champion Robert Kronberg by 0.05 (13.72 vs 13.77). Nossmy thus put an end to Kronberg's national title streak at 12 (1997-2008).
On the national level a few other performances of note:
- sprinter Lena Berntsson (100m / 200m), middle distance runner Charlotte Schönbeck (800m / 1500m) and long distance runner Isabellah Andersson (5000m / 10000m) all acquired double gold medals
- Mehdi Alkhatib (in the absence of Linus Thörnblad who is still nursing a hip injury) claimed the High Jump title left vacant by Stefan Holm
- 1500m-specialist Olle Walleräng after losing a sprint for that gold medal probably found his event of the future when he instead took the 5000m. Because there he after a slow start left all the specialists standing by solo-running an impressive final two kilometers.
- Steeplechaser Mustafa Mohamed was confined to the role as a spectator to let the spike wounds he got after the fall at DN Galan on Friday night heal.
- The big sensation of the competition was 400m runner Rebecca Högberg who at age 25 began the year with a 56.99 PB, who came to Malmö with a 54.67 PB and who left Malmö with the gold medal and a 53.01 PB!
A. Lennart Julin for the IAAF
And Olsson didn't disappoint – but once more this rainy summer the weather was a major disappointment. Olsson opened his Triple Jump final with a controlled 16.72m jump which certainly left the impression on the onlookers that he had much more to show in the upcoming rounds.
Olsson on Berlin – ‘My heart says yes, but my head says no’
But after Olsson had aborted his second attempt the weather pounced heavily: The Malmö Stadium was completely drenched and the intense rain continued for an hour and a half and not surprisingly Olsson decided not to risk anything and passed his remaining four attempts. A wise decision and the truly un-jumpable conditions were illustrated by the fact only one of the other 11 competitors managed to improve after the second round.
After the competition Olsson announced that he had decided not to go to the World championships in Berlin, and that decision had nothing to do with what happened in this competition.
“I would have loved to go and my heart says yes, but my head says no,” Olsson said. “For me it is still too early in the season and I am not prepared for a World Championships. I don't have the consistency necessary to be able to take only one jump to advance to the final and I am not certain that my body can handle many all-out jumps within a short time frame.”
400m specialist Johan Wissman chose the 200m in Malmö and during the heavy downpour he ran a 20.75 winning by 0.36 which he considered a quite positive test of his speed.
“Of course you are somewhat conservative in your approach to the race in this kind of weather,” Wissman said. “Now it will be nice to go to our precamp in Austria for the final tune-up in some hopefully more sprint-friendly weather.”
Green and Tornéus impress despite conditions
The Swedish championships marked the return to competition for high jumper Emma Green after a few weeks of taking care of some Achilles problems. This comeback turned out very positively as Green improved her 2009 top mark to 1.96m. She then called it a day not attempting any higher heights.
A month ago long jumper Michel Tornéus cracked the 8m-barrier for the first time jumping 8.11m and now he clearly proved that was not a one-off achievement as he after a huge foul in the first round recorded 8.09m while still barely getting his toe on the board in the second. Even though the Long Jump is extremely strong this year Tornéus thus proved that he has the ability to challenge for a place in the Berlin final.
Others heading to Berlin who bolstered their confidence with new national titles were discus thrower Anna Söderberg who got her 17th straight gold after reaching 61.04m, Heptathlete Jessica Samuelsson who took the Long Jump in 6.31m (just 1 cm off her PB), and 800m runner Mattias Claesson who after a slow 56.8 opener blasted a 53.0 second lap when the rain was at its maximum intensity.
For the pole vaulters Jesper Fritz (fresh from his win at DN Galan) and Alhaji Jeng the competition could not be concluded. It had to be cancelled with the bar at 5.34m when Jeng hadn't even started vaulting.
The dreadful weather also spoiled all chances for hurdler Philip Nossmy to get the IAAF B-standard 13.62. Nossmy, who has returned this year after missing three years due to injuries, still got the satisfaction of defeating perennial champion Robert Kronberg by 0.05 (13.72 vs 13.77). Nossmy thus put an end to Kronberg's national title streak at 12 (1997-2008).
On the national level a few other performances of note:
- sprinter Lena Berntsson (100m / 200m), middle distance runner Charlotte Schönbeck (800m / 1500m) and long distance runner Isabellah Andersson (5000m / 10000m) all acquired double gold medals
- Mehdi Alkhatib (in the absence of Linus Thörnblad who is still nursing a hip injury) claimed the High Jump title left vacant by Stefan Holm
- 1500m-specialist Olle Walleräng after losing a sprint for that gold medal probably found his event of the future when he instead took the 5000m. Because there he after a slow start left all the specialists standing by solo-running an impressive final two kilometers.
- Steeplechaser Mustafa Mohamed was confined to the role as a spectator to let the spike wounds he got after the fall at DN Galan on Friday night heal.
- The big sensation of the competition was 400m runner Rebecca Högberg who at age 25 began the year with a 56.99 PB, who came to Malmö with a 54.67 PB and who left Malmö with the gold medal and a 53.01 PB!
A. Lennart Julin for the IAAF
