Machine-translated from Faroese and not yet reviewed. Read the original.
This evening Rebekka Fuglø ran the final of the 800 metres on the Isle of Wight. Yesterday morning she set a new Faroese record over the distance as she qualified for the final. The semi-final times of the eight finalists were all between 2:17 and 2:19, so at first glance it looked as though this could be a close race. On the other hand, Emma Leask from Shetland, and in particular Eilidh Mackenzie of the Western Isles and Claire Wilson of Jersey, had previously run somewhat faster, so it was rather doubtful whether Rebekka could get involved in the battle for the medals.
Ready for the 800 m final at the Fairway Sports Centre in Sundown on the Isle of Wight
But a lot can happen in an 800 metres race, so Rebekka was certainly going to run in the hope of a medal. That is why she went with the pace, even though the race was run very hard from the start. The three athletes mentioned above broke away just before the second lap and had a very fast split. Rebekka also had a very fast split. She took 66 seconds for the first lap, and to show how fast that is, the Faroese 400 metres record stood at 68 seconds for 16 years!
Rebekka passes 400 m after 66 seconds! The three leaders have broken away from the other five
But this was an incredibly strong field, and as they approached 600 metres Rebekka was at the back. Even though her legs were now heavy, she fought to move further up. Over the last 100 metres she managed to put in a sprint and also overtook Sarah Livett of Ynes Mon. But at the very last moment Sarah went past again and finished 1/100 of a second ahead of Rebekka.
Drama! Emma Leask (264) is obstructed by Eilidh Mackenzie (286), who was later disqualified
The fight for gold became so fierce that the winner, Eilidh Mackenzie, was disqualified for cutting in front of Emma Leask, who therefore took the gold. This meant that Rebekka finished in seventh place.
Rebekka’s time was good enough to improve the Faroese record. Another half a second was shaved off yesterday’s time, and the new record now stands at 2:19.07. That has to be called an incredibly fine time, considering how fast the first half was run, because it always comes back to bite you towards the end. And it did here too. With this in mind, there is little doubt that before the summer is over Rebekka will have taken a few more chunks off the record.
Rebekka has used all her energy, and it was enough for yet another 800 m record
She already has the chance next weekend, when she is part of the leadership team for the talent squad going to VU-Spelen. Rebekka is entered there in the 200, 400 and 800 metres. Perhaps a record or two will come of it? We are keeping our fingers crossed.
Our last events at the Island Games are tomorrow. First Øssur Debes Eiriksfoss will compete in the triple jump, then Bjørk Herup Olsen will run the 5,000 metres, and finally Marnar Djurhuus will run the 10,000 metres.
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