Machine-translated from Faroese and not yet reviewed. Read the original.
Tórur on top of the podium after jumping a massive 14.94 m!
Tórur Mortensen was one of our very biggest medal hopes as our national teams competed at VU Spelen in Gothenburg.
But after five rounds of today’s triple jump competition, things did not look particularly promising. With 13.98 metres in his first jump, Tórur was then in 7th place. Nothing wrong with that. 13.98 m and 7th place is, as such, a fantastic result. But not for Tórur, who holds the Faroese indoor record of 14.45 m and was out to get the outdoor record of Øssur Debes Eiriksfoss, who, after all, is no ordinary jumper.
As so often before, Tórur showed that he is at his best when the pressure is highest. In the decisive attempt he shook the entire Nordic jumping world with a thunderous jump of a massive 14.94 m. A clear winning jump that nobody could do anything about. Tórur thus won the strong competition at VU Spelen.
It was also a solid Faroese record. He added a full 60 centimetres to the record Øssur set when he won silver at the Island Games in Bermuda. The wind was also just right: 2.0 m/s tailwind!
As mentioned, this is a jump that jumping enthusiasts across the Nordic countries will take note of. This jump is longer than any Dane has jumped this year. And it is half a metre longer than when Tórur won the Danish title this winter. If we then look at Nordic U20 results, only one 19-year-old Finn has jumped further. Tórur has not yet turned 18.
It must be said that things are moving at full speed for Tórur. In round numbers he has added a metre every year since 2012, and nothing suggests that this will stop in 2017. Last summer Tórur was selected for his first Island Games. There he reached the final, but a minor injury then prevented him from jumping to his best.
Since then Tórur has won silver at both the Danish and the Icelandic senior championships, even though he was only 17 at the time. Then he won the Danish senior indoor championships this winter, becoming the first Faroese to win an individual Danish championship event in athletics. And now he has become the latest Faroese to win an event at VU Spelen.
Tórur truly deserves this result. He has always been an exemplary little boy, boy and teenager. He has trained a lot, for a long time and with determination since he was a little boy. Yes, ever since Tórsbreyt first saw the light of day. Tórur was 10–11 years old then. And if you went up to Tórsbreyt even back then, you could be fairly sure to see a little boy’s bike right by the sandpit, and a cheerful little boy who spent his free time practising his jumping too.
FÍF warmly congratulates Tórur and his coach Heri Ziska on this outstanding result.
Coach Heri Ziska has written more about the competition itself at www.hvirlan.fo – where there are also videos of the winning jump.
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