Viivi Lehikoinen did not clear his way to the final competition.
Viivi Lehikoinen ran fifth in his semi-final and found himself in the middle of a jostling. PDO
Viivi Lehikoinen ran fifth in his 400 meter semi-final at the EC Indoor Championships. The Finnish runner stopped the clocks with a time of 53.61, which was not enough for a place in the final race.
Lehikoinen’s run was disturbed by bumps First, the Latvian runner Gunta Čudare bumped Lehikoinen a little from the back. After this, the Italian runner Alice Mangione pushed Lehikoi even further after the start of the last lap.
Lehikoinen’s running balance suffered from the latter push and the runner had to take a side step to the outer line for a while. At the same time, Lehikoinen’s running rhythm was slightly disturbed, which was visible in the final run.
Mangione himself staggered as a result of his push and was walking on the inside of the track, but was able to continue his run.
Lehikoinen said after his run on Yle’s broadcast that everyone wants to be on the first track, especially in the indoor races. He is known for the 400m hurdles and not so much for the 400m sprint.
– Well… It was quite restless (running). Had to push a bit and get a seat. It took a bit of strength, but otherwise it was an okay run, Lehikoinen commented to Yle after the run.
Despite the pushing, he would be willing to run the distance again in the future.
– I’ve always had the feeling that ankle is a bit boring. There is always so much to focus on in fences. Somehow this halli-ankle melted my heart, quite a lot is happening here, as we noticed, Lehikoinen told Yle.
The fastest runner in the semifinals was Lieke Klaver from the Netherlands, who ran a time of 51.43.
The story is updated.
There is not much free space in hall competitions. EPA / AOP