Rúni stumbles in the semi-final

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

Last night Rúni Seloy safely ran his way into the semi-final of the 800 metres. Today at 12:30 Rúni was due to run in the first of the two heats. There were 8 men in each heat, and the top three went straight through to the final. In addition, the two fastest losers also went through. The pace in the first heat was very good, and when they passed the finish line for the first time Rúni was on about 57 seconds, which usually suits him well. He also looked to be running well. At 600 metres Rúni was still well in contention, but now they really began to flex their muscles. On the final bend the men battled hard for places, and as they came off the bend after 700 metres, Rúni was in 5th place. But it was still close and exciting. Unfortunately Rúni’s strength was spent, and over the last 100 metres he lost a second and a half.

Rúni fights to keep up, but has to watch them pull away……

And this cost him a place in the final. Even though the pace from the start was not as fast in the second heat, they came in shoulder to shoulder in a tremendous sprint finish. It had looked promising, as at 600 metres their time was almost two seconds slower than Rúni’s when he passed 600 m. But in the end, as many as seven of the eight finished under 1:58.73, which was Rúni’s time. That meant Rúni finished 12th of the 16 semi-finalists, and so will not be in the final tomorrow.

Rúni watches anxiously as the second heat unfolds. The time of No. 4 was decisive for whether Rúni would make the final. Unfortunately it did not work out.

A real shame for Rúni, who shortly before the Island Games ran 1:57.7, which would have been enough for a place in the final. Rúni is not used to racing on consecutive days, and he may have felt that he had not had enough rest after running 1:59.44. But Rúni is still very young, and his future is bright and wide open. Rúni still has one more event left, the 400 metres. The heats start on Wednesday at 12:30. Rúni has no real chance of winning a medal in the 400 metres, but will try to progress from the heats.