Rebekka set a new Faroese indoor record in the 800 m

Machine-translated from Faroese and not yet reviewed. Read the original.

Early this morning we were back in the big indoor hall, Atleticum. The long jump competition for boys 17 started as early as 09:00. From first thing in the morning, Trygvi Laksafoss and 10 others were competing for the longest jump. Last weekend Trygvi was in Reykjavík with Hvirlan, where he also competed in the long jump. That time he jumped well, close to 6 metres. Unfortunately, all three of those jumps were fouls. That was to be put right today, ideally with a valid jump over six metres.

Trygvi jumping 5.22 m here

As the clock approached 09:00, only three others besides Trygvi had turned up. No one else came, so when the competition started there were just four of them. Trygvi was third to jump. His first attempt went quite badly: 4.77 metres. His second attempt also went wrong, but this time he just squeezed past 5 metres. His third jump was a little better, at 5.22. Not at all satisfactory, but now things were moving forward, and there were certainly still hopes of a good jump. But in the fourth jump things went wrong again: 4.70 metres. It was now clear that this was not Trygvi’s day, and his last two jumps did not get past 5 metres either. The final result was therefore fourth place with 5.22 m. Back in the summer Trygvi jumped 5.69 metres, and after all the training this winter it is disappointing for him that this still stands as his longest jump. But we probably won’t have to wait long for a significant improvement, because it is quite clear that Trygvi will be jumping around 6 metres this year.

Today Sára was to run the 60 metres with the girls 13. There were 5 heats, and Sára ran in the third. Sára’s aim was to improve her record, which was 9.9 seconds. Only a moment after the starting gun sounded, the field was already a little spread out, with Sára roughly in the middle. She finished 4th in the heat, and her time of 9.43 seconds is also a new indoor age-group record for girls 13.

Sára, in the middle, ran a new personal best in the 60 m with 9.43 seconds

Both Elsa Berg and Rebekka Fuglø were to run the 800 metres with the women. There were three heats, and Elsa ran in the B final while Rebekka ran in the A final. The B final was first. Here it was Elsa who took the lead for the first 250 metres. The pace had to be high if she was to reach her goal, a personal best of 2:32. But the pace was perhaps a little too high on the first lap, and that came at a cost later. It soon became clear that this would not be a personal best for Elsa, who finished in 2:37.48. A pity for Elsa, who should certainly be able to get down towards 2:30 fairly soon.

Elsa led after the first lap of the 800 m

The A final included several top Danish runners. The big question was whether Rebekka could set another personal best today, or whether Saturday had just been a “lucky punch”. In any case the plan was to go for a personal best, and since the Faroese record was not far off, she might just as well go for that too. That required her to run each 200 metres in about 35 seconds. And that is how it went at first. In 6th and last place she followed the field well, which was running exactly as Rebekka wanted. After halfway the field started to spread out, and the women in 4th and 5th place lost some ground. So did Rebekka in 6th place, and the 3rd lap was run a little too slowly. But with 250 metres to go she moved past Karina Klok and began a long finishing sprint. With 100 metres left she also overtook Alexandra Johansen in fourth place, and at the finish she was just two seconds behind Katrine Reinholdt in third. All of these are well-known names in Danish running, so there were no doubt a few surprised looks among the Danes as they once again saw a young Faroese runner mixing it with the best in Denmark. And then came the final time: 2:20.68 and a new Faroese indoor record!! Very pleasing to see Rebekka take a Faroese record in the 800 metres again, as it had been a while since the last one. Many congratulations, Rebekka!

Rebekka set a new Faroese indoor record in the 800 m with 2:20.68.

We had three boys in the 200 metres for boys 17. They were running in 9 heats, and ours ran in the first ones. First was Regin Joensen, who had never before run under 27 seconds. But Regin ran well, finishing in 25.85 seconds. That was a big improvement for Regin, who also set a good personal best in the 1,500 metres on Saturday. Next came Hans Jacobsen in heat two. Hans shot off like a cannonball and led the whole 200 metres. And the end result was another personal best for him, this time by a good half-second. His time was 25.11 seconds. Then came Trygvi Laksafoss in the third heat, in his second event of the day. Trygvi also ran the 200 m in Reykjavík last weekend, with the very good result of 25.13, almost the same time as Hans. Although this heat was very close, and Trygvi battled his way to victory towards the end, the result was not as good as in Reykjavík. This time his time was 25.50 seconds.

Regin, in the middle, setting a personal best in the 200 m with 25.85 seconds

Hans, far left, getting ready to start the 200 m, where he set a personal best with 25.11 seconds

Trygvi won his 200 m heat with 25.50 seconds

Last on the track today was Marnar Djurhuus, who won a silver medal in the 1,500 metres yesterday. Today he was running with the men, so no medal was expected. But the question was whether he could set a personal best, as that would bring him closer to the Island Games qualification standard. It was very close for all of the first three laps. There was nothing, however, to suggest that Marnar was going to run to his very best. But perhaps a fast fourth lap could save the day. On the final bend, though, it got a bit crowded, and suddenly Marnar fell to the ground. It happened when he stepped out into lanes 2-3 to overtake two runners, because another runner then came from behind and probably ran into Marnar’s back. The runner coming from behind stretched his arm out in front of him and hit Marnar in the back. Marnar fell forward, rolled off the track and lay there. Fortunately nothing serious happened, although it is very unfortunate that something like this should happen when you have travelled so far to achieve a particular result.

Marnar getting ready to run the 800 m

The competitions are over for this time, and our young athletes come home on Monday afternoon with new experiences. Along with the luggage they also bring nine new personal bests, 6 age-group records and even a new Faroese record! On top of that there was a silver and a gold medal. Now it is a matter of keeping up the effort and training just as hard towards the summer competitions, because that is often when the big breakthroughs are seen.

Rebekka, Sára and Elsa after the competitions finished on Sunday

Regin, Trygvi and Hans pictured just after all three had run the 200 m

The man in the middle has competed against several Faroese athletes at the Island Games. His name is Mattias Sunneborn (1970), and on Sunday he ran the 200 m in 22.53 seconds