Machine-translated from Faroese and not yet reviewed. Read the original.
Tórur Mortensen has had an outstanding competitive year so far in 2015. Not yet 17, he has finished second in both the Icelandic and the Danish senior men’s championships! And last Saturday he won the Danish Championships for boys aged 16–17. Tórur’s strong results are now paying off. He has been selected to represent the Danish/Icelandic team, which will compete against Norway, Finland and Sweden in a U20 international match, with two athletes from each country in every event. Norway, Finland and Sweden are such strong athletics nations that, even though Denmark and Iceland field a joint team, that team usually still finishes last in both the men’s and the women’s competitions.
Everything suggests that Tórur’s progress will continue in the coming years (photo: Hvirlan)
That Tórur has been given this opportunity says a lot about his ability, as he is considerably younger than his opponents. He can’t be expected to do anything special against his older opponents, but a small personal best would be nice to achieve. With Tórur competing in Finland this weekend, the rest of us won’t get to see his jumping ability on the Tórsbreyt track this weekend, where the Faroese Championships are being held.
Tórur is not the first Faroese athlete to make the Danish/Icelandic national team. Bjørk Herup Olsen also took part at both 16 and 17 years of age, when she ran the 3,000 m. She was also invited a third time in 2010, but by then she had moved overseas, so it was not feasible for her.
It will be exciting to see when the next Faroese athlete receives this offer. The requirement, in any case, is that you have to be no. 1 or 2 in Denmark and Iceland combined, so it takes quite something.
You can also read an article at www.hvirlan.fo, where Tórur’s coach, Heri Ziska, writes about the selection.
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