Machine-translated from Faroese and not yet reviewed. Read the original.
Last weekend FÍF’s national teams took part in the big VU-Spelen competition in Gothenburg. Faroese athletes have never before produced such consistently good results. We got personal bests in almost every event, and 27 times we set new age-group records. And no fewer than four new Faroese records were set over the three days.
Much could be written about every event, as each has its own exciting story. Here, though, is just a short summary for each athlete.
It should be borne in mind that the events are very, very strongly contested, with most of the best athletes from all the Nordic countries and elsewhere too. We won a medal again this year (Hanus Bergsson, javelin), and there was also a whole host of top 10 results that we are more than proud of.
The squad pictured outside the accommodation, from left: Valborg, Gutti, Rebekka, Karin, Steingrímur, Hallur, Tinna, Hanus, Steintór, Marita, Heri, Trygvi, Andreas, Helgi, Elisabet, Tórur, Hallur, Oddvør, Debes, Óluva, Niklas and Birita. Missing from the photo are Maria, Katarina, Margit and Pauli.
All the results at this link: http://www.trackandfield.se/resultat/2014/140629.htm – choose between Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the top of the page.
Rebekka
Rebekka is the most experienced athlete in the squad and over the years has set countless Faroese records. In 2013 alone she set 10 new Faroese outdoor records. And the good run continues. Rebekka competed in the 1,500 m on Saturday and the 800 m on Sunday, and both times it was a Faroese record! The 1,500 m record was held by Bjørk Herup Olsen, and it was one of the really strong records. In the strong women’s heat Rebekka was at the back for a long time, but halfway through she caught a few who were fading. At 1,000 m she was at about 3:05, and then she put her foot down and ran the last 500 metres home in 1:30, so her final time and new Faroese record was 4:35.92. Rebekka finished 10th in this strong field.
The 1,500 m has just started and they set off. Rebekka and Valborg in blue.
On Sunday the 800 m was on the programme. A great many strong runners had come to Gothenburg, and Rebekka was placed in heat 2 – the second-strongest heat. Although the first lap was run in just over 65 seconds, Rebekka was still last of the 12 women at that point. On the second lap she caught almost half the field and came home in a new record time. Unfortunately a technical mishap of some kind meant the electronic times were lost. Fortunately, though, the organisers somehow managed to reconstruct the results, but they now stand as hand times to one decimal. Rebekka’s time and new Faroese record was 2:14.6.
Hanus
Hanus Bergsson has long been our great hope in the javelin, and at VU-Spelen he made his real breakthrough. Not only in the Faroe Islands but also in Denmark, where his results have caused a stir in the Danish throwing world. As reported in another article on the website, Hanus managed to take the 57.74 m record set by Rógvi Højgaard in 2007 with his very first throw. Hanus threw exactly one centimetre further. But to underline that he can now truly call himself the best Faroese javelin thrower ever, in the fifth round he smashed the javelin out to 59.00 metres. A result that also looks very exciting from an Island Games point of view. On the Danish men’s ranking list Hanus is now number 6, and it is only a short way up to the leaders.
Hanus celebrates his Faroese record. Here he has just been told the distance. 59.00 metres!!
Margit
Margit Weihe Fríðmundsdóttir, Girls 15, has been racing for many years. Recently she has been getting faster and faster, and today must be considered one of the 4-5 young girls/women who are the fastest in the Faroe Islands. On Saturday she ran the 80 m and set an age-group record of 11.25 sec. And on Sunday she took part in the biggest event of all at VU-Spelen. 155 girls were entered in the 300 m and were to run in 15 heats. Margit clearly won the ninth heat and finished 32nd overall with a new Faroese record, 43.52 seconds – 0.08 seconds faster than the old record set by Rebekka last year. Margit’s time also suggests that she could take the Faroese record at 400 m too, and perhaps she will also become the first Faroese woman under 1:00.00 at 400 m?
Margit ran her very best and set a new Faroese record at 300 m.
Tinna
The plan was for Tinna Berg Jørgensen, Girls 15, to run the 100 m and 200 m. But those distances were not on offer for her age group. So Tinna was one of the three Faroese who ran the 80 m. It went well for Tinna, and she set a new personal best of 11.32 seconds, compared with her old one of 11.45 seconds.
Karin, Tinna and Margit all took part in the 80 metres for Girls 15
Karin
The third girl in the Girls 15 80 m was Karin Holm Simonsen, who has really come on since last autumn, especially in the short distances. But the 80 m on Saturday did not go to plan, and her top speed never really came through. Her time was 11.75 seconds. The reason may be the hard 800 m on Friday, when Karin took no less than 5 seconds off her personal best, which is now 2:23.01. On Sunday Karin ran the 300 m, and here again things went like clockwork as she won heat 8 in style with a new personal best, 44.18 sec.
Karin celebrates her heat win in the 800 m and her big new personal best, 2:23.01
Katarina
Last year Katarina Høj set a Faroese record over 800 metres when, quite unexpectedly, she cut no less than 10 seconds off her best time. She then had to live up to that this year when she ran the Girls 15 800 m on Friday. Katarina ran in the strongest heat and did not shrink back. Right to the end she was in the fight for the medals, but in the end had to settle for fifth place, less than a second from silver. Her time was enough for a small personal best and a new age-group record. With a time of 2:17.61 Katarina is also second-best on the Danish ranking list.
Katarina is always ready for a hard battle. Here from the very first step of the 800 m, where she cut a big chunk off the age-group record
On Saturday the 1,500 m was on the programme. This was not a distance for the 15-year-olds, who were to run 2,000 m, so Katarina ran with the women. Here she was placed in the second heat, but that too was very, very strong, and Katarina had a hard battle all the way. And she fought well, battling her way to 6th place in the heat and at the same time improving her own age-group record to 4:51.68. Katarina thus managed to achieve two Island Games qualification standards this weekend, and with focused running training over the next year there is little doubt that we have a girl here who can be in the fight for medals in Jersey.
Valborg
Most elite athletes had, for various reasons – mostly injuries – withdrawn from the competition in Gothenburg. But Valborg Heinesen was up for the challenge and was to try herself over shorter distances for the first time. On Friday the 3,000 m was on the programme, and Valborg was to run in the strongest heat. There was some excitement over whether Valborg could threaten Bjørk Herup Olsen’s Faroese record, which is 10:05. It turned out that she could not on the day. But there is little doubt that with slightly better form and a bit more speed training, Valborg could well run under 10:00. This time her time was 10:21.64, which was good for ninth place in the big field of 21 runners.
Valborg showed that she can run fast too. Here in the 1,500 m
On Saturday it was the 1,500 metres. Valborg battled well but still lost a few seconds on the last lap. Her time was 4:53.38. A definitely acceptable result, but here again it is clear that with a bit of specific training she could quickly bring her time down a good deal. Valborg’s shortest track distance ever before had been 10,000 m, so this was all completely new for her, and as she says, it was very inspiring and hardly the last time she runs middle distance.
Oddvør
The younger girls also had the 1,500 metres on the programme. But first came the 600 m on Friday evening. Here Oddvør had made the ultra-strong A final for Girls 13, and she intended to compete among the leaders and go for Katarina’s age-group record. But two heavy collisions at the start gave her a very poor start, and Oddvør really had to sprint just to catch up with the field. That never quite worked out, and a rather disappointed Oddvør crossed the line, even though she had set an outdoor personal best of 1:46.51.
A rough start for Oddvør in the 600 m. After two collisions she ended up at the back
Oddvør was not entirely happy with her 1,500 m result either, even though she improved her age-group record by about a second to 5:08.20, which was good for 9th place overall. On the last day she ran the 200 m and, with 30.33 sec, was just outside her best time. Oddvør was somewhat unwell on the flight over, and there is some indication that this affected her results a little. With two personal bests and an age-group record, it is a thoroughly respectable performance.
Maria
Maria Biskopstø, Girls 12, competed in the same three events as Oddvør and set personal bests in all of them. She started with the 600 metres on Friday evening. Here she had made the B final for Girls 12 and finished mid-pack in 1:51.38. In the 1,500 metres she competed in the A final together with the 13-year-olds and kept up really well towards the back of the field. Her time was 5:11.89. Maria’s good form was confirmed on Sunday, when she cut a second and a half off her best time in the 200 metres. Her result was 31.54 seconds.
Maria sets off in the 600 m
Read more about the rest of the squad later……. there’s plenty of good stuff still to come!!
