Kosonen’s training throws faltered badly, but he found the energy for the qualification.
Silja Kosonen cleared her way to the moukari final. Matti Raivio / AOP
Silja Kosonen, vying for gold from the Espoo under-23 European Championships, cleared the qualification for the moukari competition with one throw.
The race with 71.33 was by far the best of the first qualifying group. The qualifying line was 66 meters, and besides Kosonen, only Britannia exceeded it Charlotte Payne.
However, Suomalaištahti’s race day did not start without a hitch. The practice throws thrown to start the morning did not want to succeed at all.
– The darts weren’t exactly the best. The first one went into the net and the second one was also a bit difficult, Kosonen recalled after leaving the moukari place in good time to rest.
However, the gold favorite didn’t panic when the throw found itself in front of the home crowd.
– I knew what the mistake was, so when I remembered to fix it, there was no problem anymore. I just started from a too wide position, so then the leg won’t come out very quickly.
All’s well That ends well. In the end, a place in the final to be thrown on Friday came easily.
– The intention was to throw one throw, and it was still quite long, so nice, Kosonen said.
At the time of the rooster crowing
Kosonen’s parents had arrived to watch the qualifying that started at 9:40 in the morning. According to the thrower, at least he didn’t hear any grumbling about the schedule.
– At least they didn’t dare to complain directly, Kosonen grinned.
Kosonen said that it was now necessary to invest especially in the state of alertness in the morning.
– I’m not a terrible morning person in general, but this week I’ve gone to bed pretty early every day. So this morning was by no means a big shock. And even if there is one bad night’s sleep in between, it doesn’t really hurt.