Machine-translated from Faroese and not yet reviewed. Read the original.
We didn’t have to go far into the new year before the first Faroese record saw the light of day. Only six days had passed when Bragdið sprinter Rói Holgarsson, who now trains and competes for Sparta in Copenhagen, set not just one but two records over the unofficial sprint distance of 50 metres.
It happened at a competition in the indoor arena in Hvidovre yesterday afternoon. Although there were only three participants in the senior race, a preliminary heat was still run. Rói finished 2nd in a time of 6.39 seconds. That was 0.02 seconds behind Arnór Jónsson and 0.32 seconds better than Jógvan Glerfoss’s old record of 6.71 seconds from January 1993. This was probably not one of the records Jógvan was proudest of, so he is no doubt pleased that one of his former pupils has now taken it.
But Rói wasn’t finished. Just half an hour after the heat, the final was to be run. Although Rói improved his time by 0.03 seconds, he again finished 2nd. The winner, once again Arnór Jónsson, ran 6.35 seconds, but Rói was right on his heels with 6.36 seconds. And that was an improvement on his brand-new record! Rói himself believes he can run even faster. He had not rested particularly before the competition. On the contrary, he had several hard training days in his legs.
Hopefully Rói will get another chance to run 50 metres this winter. It will also be exciting to see whether he manages to take Ási Mikkelsen’s indoor record over 60 metres. And could the indoor record over 200 metres be about to fall as well?
We are delighted that things are going in the right direction for Rói. We congratulate him on the record and wish him the best of luck with his training ahead of the Island Games this summer.
Rúni Seloy (left) and Hans Jacobsen with the Faroese sprint king between them.
