Machine-translated from Faroese and not yet reviewed. Read the original.
Today FÍF received a reply to its applications for funding from Úrval. Úrval is a subcommittee of ÍSF that distributes funds for elite work with our very best athletes.
Of the eight athletes receiving funding, three represent athletics. Hanus Bergsson is our best javelin thrower ever. Although he is only 19 years old, he took the javelin record in 2014 and improved it twice. He is now just under a metre short of the 60-metre mark, but given the progress Hanus is currently making, he can be expected to throw much further in the coming year.
Hanus Bergsson, 19, knows that it takes not just strength but also suppleness. He is on his way towards something really big in the javelin.
Long and triple jumper Tórur Mortensen is also making tremendous progress. In summer 2013 he performed well at VU-Spelen and jumped just over 5 metres in the long jump. Last summer, a year older, Tórur jumped 6.18 metres, an improvement of more than a metre in one year. There is little doubt that many more centimetres will be added in the coming competition year, and if everything goes more or less as it should, Tórur will make his debut at the upcoming Island Games.
Tórur Mortensen competing at the Danish Championships – a fantastic attitude to training from day one
Since Valborg Heinesen stormed through with two gold medals in Bermuda, she has developed even further. In 2014 she won Danish Championship silver over 5,000 metres with a Faroese record, she won Danish Championship bronze in the marathon with a Faroese record, and she set a Faroese record in the half marathon at the World Championships in Copenhagen. Now she is going for some good results at the Island Games, and after that she will aim to take another bite out of the marathon record.
This is how we would like to see Valborg again at the next Island Games
Without the funding now being granted, the plans for the coming year for these top athletes would have been very different. This is very welcome support, and it will without any doubt be reflected in the results. The funding from Úrval is to be used for activities other than those FÍF normally supports and pays for. Here it is above all training camps that can be expected to make the really big difference. Valborg now has the chance to go to an altitude training camp for three weeks. And we have seen before that those who respond well to altitude training can make incredible progress. Hanus and Tórur are going to Sweden, where they will train with some of the world’s best specialist coaches.
FÍF congratulates the three of you and your coaches on the funding and wishes you the best of luck in the coming competition year!
Congratulations also to ÍSF, which has now got its elite work on track. This is truly exciting for Faroese sport!
