Annemari Sandell opts for marathon in Sydney Olympics

Annemari Sandell opts for marathon in Sydney Olympics
Chris Turner for IAAF

Finland’s Annemari (Annukka) Sandell, 1999 World Cross Country Short Course Bronze medallist, announced on Sunday (03/10/99) that next year she will opt for the marathon distance at the Sydney Olympics.

Sandell (b.1977), the 1995 World Junior and European Senior Cross Country Champion, performed dismally in the recent Seville World Championships (5k DNQ; 10k DNF) despite running a promising (31:45.53mins) 10,000 metres earlier in the season at the European 10,000 metres challenge meet.

Commenting after her third consecutive win in the annual 15km Lidingoloppett Cross Country Classic (Stockholm) on Sunday, Sandell said that after the cross country season she would focus her attentions primarily on the marathon distance next year.

Sandell finished 5th (1:10.04) at the 1998 World Half Marathon Championships, which to date is the only half marathon race she has run. She will debut at the full marathon distance at either Rotterdam, London or Paris next spring before tackling the same distance at the Sydney Olympics in the autumn.

Other news from Finland -

Heli Rantanen, the 1996 Olympic javelin champion, who missed most of the 1999 season due to injury, has announced that she has split from her coach Leo Pusa.

Pusa who also trained 1988 Olympic champion Tapio Korjus and is still coach to 1991 World Champion Kimmo Kinnunen, is not surprisingly one of the most revered figures in Finnish athletics.

The split comes after three inconsistent seasons for the 29 year-old Rantanen who has been hampered by injury since her Olympic triumph. The best Rantanen has achieved since 1996 is a fifth place in the 1998 European Championship final. A growing difference of opinion regarding Rantanen’s future development was sited as the reason for the ending of her partnership with Pusa.