Six years ago, the Finn already announced his goal of winning the world championship and crossing five meters.
“The 435 in pole vault qualification is not a failure compared to the level of results of the summer, but the 21-year-old top talent should move closer to five than four meters. The ME 471 for juniors, which came in 2016, is now a distant memory. I miss sportsmanship”.
That’s what it read Wilma from Murro Iltalehti Lions & sheep analysis after the World Championships in Doha in 2019.
The season in question and the season before it had been really bad considering the athlete’s potential. There was a lack of coaching in the teaching of three different coaches, poor physical condition and poor results. The top talent was at the bottom of his career.
– I am very grateful for those experiences. They were real things, even if they appear as wrong moves. I learned so much that I wouldn’t have gotten it anywhere else, Murto recalls.
From the bull farm
Wilma Murto writes down each performance in her jumping diary. Picture from Wednesday’s EC final. PASI LEISMA
In May 2016, another hundred invited guests and media representatives had arrived at the Kupitta sports hall to watch Murro and his training and competition partner Minna Nikkanen jumping exercises.
The athletics “prodigy” from the 1,700-inhabitant Kuusjoki village of Salo, from a cattle farm of about 200 bulls, attracted a lot of interest.
– Five meters and a value race win, Murto declared his goal for the coming years.
How does a comment made at the age of 17 sound now?
– What if not. It has survived all along and has not given up. I also talked about that during 2018–19, he answers.
Six years ago, women’s pole vaulting was a fairly young sport, but Finns were liked internationally as well Yelena Isinbayeva as a veritable ability.
Those abilities were drawn from the hustle and bustle of childhood. Murto climbed trees, did tricks in the forest and pedaled his bike around the keep.
– Of all the sports, pole vaulting suited my character the best, he says now.
The sport is brash and brash, but the athlete is at least calm and warm in public.
– Basically, I am the same as I am in public, but of course those close to me know that the pressure sometimes comes off. But even then I’m not malicious.
Psychologist’s support
Wilma Murto was seventh with a result of 445 in the first adult competition in EC-Amsterdam 2016. Mika Kanerva
Here, 16-year-old Wilma Murto jumps in the summer of 2014. PDO
Murto started pole vaulting at the age of 9 Jarno Koivunen in coaching, until after 11 years the tubes were put in the bag.
– Finally, after two trials, I ended up calling Jarno to see if there was still room in the Turku coaching group, Murto recalls the decisive moment at the end of 2019.
Manager Tero Heiska helped gather around other support people as well.
One essential solution was the collaboration with a sports psychologist that started in 2018 Hannaleena Ronkainen with. Through mental training, the athlete has learned to restrain and control himself. Of course, it is also a normal cycle of life when the “wonder girl” grew into a woman.
– Hannaleena is an irreplaceable part of the team. I have cried my tears for him for four years. It would be difficult to replace him, says the athlete.
Body in mice
In the spring of 2016, more than a hundred invited guests followed Jarno Koivunen’s training for Wilma Murro at the Kupitta sports hall. Roni Lehti
Murto won the European Championship more athletically than ever.
– When the ratio of force to mass improves, of course the ability to fly higher increases. In the high jump, every kilo means centimeters down, and yes in the pole vault too. It’s not a fitness competition when you don’t measure grams. But a good ratio of rest and nutrition is required in elite sports, says Iltalehti’s expert Arto Bryggare.
Murto nods to the estimates that he is now in the best shape of his career at the age of 24.
– It’s less often that it goes well all at once, but you learn through mistakes, he states.
Five meters
At the World Championships in Doha 2019, Murto was at the height of his career. PASI STOVE LAND/IL
Murto represented Linna at the party in 2017. Jenni Gästgivar
A native of Turku who grew up in Salo likes to get around by bike. Photo from 2016. RONI LETHI
The second of the goals set in 2016 has been fulfilled, when on Thursday evening the EC gold slipped around her neck.
– She is the only woman currently active in the world who has the potential to jump five meters in the near future. Maybe not this year, but soon, says Bryggare.
The estimate sounds harsh, as the Finn improved his own record by 13 cents on Wednesday.
– There is room for improvement. His resources are indeed at five meters and above. The running can be improved and with that the technique can be built even more aggressively. One step at a time and carefully.
The Finn’s crossing of a height of 485 is the second best result in the world this season and the twelfth highest on the world’s all-time list.
Only three women in the history of the sport have exceeded five meters on outdoor tracks: Isinbajeva (506), Antselika Sidorova (501) and Sandy Morris (500).