The day before, Timme Koster heard that he could participate in the prestigious FBK Games. The 20-year-old hurdler from Egmond aan den Hoef was by far the youngest participant and was among the world’s best for the first time. “The match didn’t go well at all, but the experience was totally worth it. It was really cool!”
“It was all quite unexpected,” says Koster, who actually had a regular hurdle training on the program last Sunday. “My trainer had called the race management that I had run 13.65 seconds. The race was already full so I was on the reserve list.”
A day before the match, his coach Sven Ootjers called him that he could still travel to Hengelo for the FBK Games. “And suddenly I was among the big names. It is super unlikely that I was allowed to walk among them. The level was so high. So this was actually a godsend.”
“Suddenly the greatest hurdlers in the world were my opponents”
From Egmond, Timme left head over heels for Hengelo. He was in the car for two hours and his parents, cousin and uncle accompanied her to the stadium. “I don’t know how they got tickets, because it was sold out,” laughs Koster, who had never run in such a big race. “I was pretty relaxed. Everything was completely new. In the warm-up I was really good even. But the moment I was announced, so much happened suddenly. Suddenly the biggest hurdlers in the world were the opponents I had to race against. I didn’t feel a lot of nerves, but subconsciously they were definitely there.”
Tip of the champion
Koster was in lane 1 and to his right he saw all the big names in the starting block. Grant Holloway, the second fastest man ever in the 110 meters hurdles, is one of his idols and was right next to him. “Afterwards I walked up to him. He’s a really nice guy and he even gave me a tip. I said I was a bit nervous because it was my first big race with so many people. His tip was to get in closing the starting block and doing the test start as if you were on the warm-up track.”
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Despite the fact that the race did not go smoothly, it was a very instructive day for Koster. He has learned a lot from the entourage. “When I come into an environment with top athletes, I get a boost. That shocked me a bit, because I suddenly came closer to the hurdles. I went so fast in the warm-up, so that I no longer dared to run like in training. I suddenly reached a level for myself that I was afraid to make mistakes. I just have to trust that I am very good. That I have to blow hard and not focus on the mistakes, because that happens probably not.”
Koster finished the race in eighth place in 13.78 seconds. Soon he will run a number of competitions abroad and in July he will defend his national title in the 110 meter hurdles in Breda.