Machine-translated from Faroese and not yet reviewed. Read the original.
So the first day of competition is over, and there is no denying that the haul was outstanding. No fewer than four gold medals and one silver, plus a Faroese indoor record, were secured on Saturday afternoon.
All of our athletes ran the 800 metres today. First up was Rebekka, who went clearly into the lead straight away. She managed to hold the fast opening pace, and it ended with a gold medal and a new Faroese record. The old record belonged to Bjørk, who ran the distance in 2:23.12 last year. Rebekka’s new record is 2:22.34.

Then it was Rúni’s turn. As usual for him, everything was to be decided right from the start, and he went hard from the very first step. He settled safely into the lead, kept increasing the pace almost all the way, and took gold in a time of 2:07.07. That is three seconds better than last winter and also a new indoor age-group record.

Bjørk ran in the women’s category this time, so it was exciting to see how she would fare against the adults. In lap 1 of 4, Bjørk was in second place, but after 250 metres Bjørk said thanks and goodbye and pulled away. The rest of the race was an exhibition, and yet another gold medal was in the bag.

3 races and 3 golds. That was what both Jóan Karl and Jan Elmar had to live up to when they stood on the start line for the men’s 800 metres. It was a hard-fought race. Two Icelanders set off at a tremendous pace, while Jóan Karl and Jan Elmar tried to keep hold of them. After two laps one of the Icelanders dropped out – he had only been pacing for the other – so now Jóan Karl was in second place and Jan Elmar in fourth. Although they battled hard, there were no further changes in the positions. Silver for Jóan Karl in a time of 2:01.82 and 4th place for Jan Elmar in 2:08.67.

According to the programme, Regin was to run next of our athletes. But because the organisers chose to wait until the long jumpers in this same age group had finished, Regin’s 800 m race was pushed back further and further. So after warming up for an hour and a half, it was finally time to run. There were three heats, and Regin was placed among the best. These were big boys he had to run against, and at times it was hard to spot Regin in the crowd. But when they came round the first time, we saw that Regin had settled right on the heels of the leading runner. And there he stayed until 150 metres were left. Then his strength began to fade, and in the last 100 metres two big, fast runners came past him. But Regin’s time was excellent! With 2:22 he improved his own time from last year by a full 11 seconds!!
As reported yesterday, Guttorm Sørensen was to try competing indoors for the first time in his long life. The distance was 3,000 metres, and three hopeful runners stood on the start line. One Faroese and two Icelanders. One 10 years younger than Guttorm, the other 20 years younger. But running races are not decided by birth certificate, so it was simply a case of going for it. They all ran together at a steady pace for the first 2,000 metres. But then Guttorm had had enough. He made a fierce surge and did not look back until he was clearly in the lead and could call himself the winner at Stórmót IR. This is not the first time Guttorm has won a race in Iceland. In 2001 he also won the Reykjavík 1/2 Marathon. 
Stórmót IR continues on Sunday morning. Regin will run the 200 metres, Rúni and Rebekka the 400 metres and Jan Elmar the 1500 metres. In the afternoon Reykjavík International begins, where Bjørk, Rebekka and Jóan Karl will run the 1500 metres. This competition is apparently being shown live on Icelandic television. We cannot say whether it can be seen in the Faroe Islands or possibly online.
Results and a report from Sunday will be posted here on the site tomorrow evening.


These three all crossed the finish line first today









You must be logged in to post a comment.