Hurdle runner Annimari Kortte’s summer turned out to be different than she had planned.
Annimari Korte manages to smile despite adversity. AOP/Pasi Murto
Kesähelle grills the crowd stretching on the Zoo’s athletic field. There are enthusiastic children as well as young and middle-aged fitness enthusiasts.
200m double world champion by Dafne Schippers pulling the initial heats and meeting the fans is To Annimari Korttee clearly a natural thing to do, but really he should be somewhere else.
However, the WC competitions starting in mid-July will be missed due to the swelling of the ischial bone. Korte tried to compete with a sore leg three weeks ago at the Paavo Nurmi Games, but missed the heats.
Iltalehti’s athletics expert Arto Bryggare commented at the time that the action was not reasonable.
Korte is ready to sign this view without being asked.
– As an athlete, you never want to give up, you always want to try until the end. It’s not at all reasonable or healthy to train with this bone injury, but as an athlete you don’t want to give up because you’ve worked so hard and invested so much, Korte is in pain.
Difficult choices
Talking about the difficulties doesn’t erase the speed fence star’s trademark smile, but inside, it hardens. Kortte had his hamstrings cut out last fall, which became stronger, but the operation meant a later start to the season.
The next goal is the European Championships in Munich in August, but time is running out for them as well. Korte has a daily conversation with his background troops about what would be the right way to proceed.
There are only difficult choices ahead.
– It is not certain whether I will be able to compete for the rest of the season or whether I should prepare with time for next season, he says.
Corona as a problem
In addition to the preliminary strain injury, the woman’s problem has been the corona during the early summer, which she has contracted twice.
– For two and a half years I didn’t have a corona once, then now twice in two months. Really bad luck, Korte updates.
The disease I contracted in May was strong and felt in my body.
– I clearly had a nervous breakdown for a while. It’s tricky in the way that it feels like a little flu, but can affect the body a lot and for a long time.
– You can tell by the fact that the nervous system does not want to recover. After the first one (corona), resting heart rates increased and heart rate variability decreased a lot. There were wild fluctuations in the heart rate interval, it was low for many weeks. It tells about the recovery of the nervous system, so the higher the better.
A new dog
Those willing could warm up and clock running times under the guidance of Annimari Kortte on Saturday at the Zoo field. AOP/Pasi Murto
Eugene’s World Cup competitions will be little monitored by Kortte. According to his story, he does not intend to follow his own sport, the 100-meter hurdles.
He is actually quite excited about it, because the time is taken up by the new arrival in the household, a husky puppy.
– The dog comes exactly on the same day that I had to run the heats. I won’t be looking at fences at all. It was as it was meant to be, says Korte.
Moving ahead
Dogs are a way for the 34-year-old athlete to get his mind off sports and relax. This summer’s fur coat is the fourth of its kind, and Korte is now looking for a new apartment to get closer to better dog areas.
In the winter, there would be a desire to conveniently get to the dog sledding trail.
– I want to start training in it with them. Now we have trained with Kickbike, next winter with sled. Next to that, I was looking for a big yard. The size of the house doesn’t matter, Korte laughs.
– I now live in a row, so of course I have to increase the budget a bit.