What’s the matter? The indoor track season is interesting in sports circles, but the general public gets a taste of the events of the training season.
How should the indoor track season of athletics be approached?
Events of the training season, the weight of which is Lilliputian – or real top sports and the competition season, just like outdoor track events.
– In the USA, indoor races are bigger than outdoor track races. I remember from my own career when I competed on wooden tracks at the old Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. There were about 20,000 spectators, says Iltalehti’s athletics expert Arto Bryggare.
The roots of indoor athletics go back to the middle of the 20th century in the United States. The visual appeal of the sport appeals to Yankees.
– The atmosphere in the hall is great, it’s like a hockey game. Spectators can see how hard people can run or jump when they are close to the athletes.
In Europe, indoor competitions became common in the 1960s. The first European Championships were held in 1966. The first more than twenty years of European Championship history were probably the golden age of the sport on the old continent.
– In Finland, they only talked about endurance running and javelin throwing. The indoor competitions were a place for show jumping athletes and sprinters.
In the last millennium, the competition calendar on outdoor tracks was much more extensive than it is today. There were Olympic Games and European Championships every four years.
– Hall competitions were very tough in my time, when medals were awarded in odd years. I got excited and I was very successful, says Bryggare, who has won five EC indoor medals.
Competitions have been held in the MM halls on average every two years since the winter of 1985. Two years earlier, the first World Championships for outdoor tracks were held in Helsinki.
The bet is over
This is the most characteristic feature of indoor sprints: the athletes stop their speed on the mats. Jussi Saarinen
In the 2000s, when live sports on TV literally exploded, indoor athletics, especially in Northern Europe, was overshadowed by skiing and lacrosse as an object of interest for a large number of sports people.
The increased number of outdoor track competitions and the competitions of the Diamond League and its predecessor, the Golden League, also increased the interest of the indoor competitions.
– In terms of training, during my career, the game was clear: a peak of fitness for the reign and another for the value races on the outdoor tracks in August. In June, you could compete as a kanke, Bryggare states.
– Nowadays, when the halli season value competitions are in March, the equation is more challenging. During the outdoor track season, you have to be in shape already at the beginning of June, he adds.
To the Nokia arena?
The absolute advantage of indoor athletics is when the audience can see the athletes up close. Jussi Saarinen
Jumping athletes and sprinters have varying attitudes towards the government these days. The ranking system has offered a little new boost: the points collected from the hall are valid in many sports, for example in the Paris 2024 Olympic ranking.
– Indoor sports would rise to a new level if it were integrated into the International Athletics Federation’s global competition calendar. We play tennis both indoors and outdoors. In Finland, I would like one decent race for example at the Nokia Arena.
In Bryggare’s opinion, for example, the Diamond League could continue all year round, and not just on the outdoor courts.
– If indoor athletics remain separate individual competitions, the outdoor track season will roll over.
Let’s go back to the question posed at the beginning of this text: what is the meaning of the Hallikau?
– It says a lot about where we are going. During the Halliki era, new types emerge. I value success in indoor competitions, Bryggare answers.