Emma Green of Sweden competes in the women's High Jump qualification in Berlin (© Getty Images)
With several of the established top names – Johan Wissman, Linus Thörnblad and Robert Kronberg – taking the indoor season off this winter and with triple jumper Christian Olsson choosing to compete sparingly on his comeback trail after years of injury setbacks, it was left to high jumper Emma Green and hurdler Philip Nossmy to provide the World class performances at the Swedish Championships held in Sätra (just south of Stockholm) during the weekend.
And provide quality performances both of them did. Green, after exactly matching the Doha standard of 1.92m in each of her three previous competitions, showed a definite rise in form with two weeks to go until the World Indoor Championships. Entering at 1.86m she had the competition won after the next height (1.90m) and then cleared 1.94m with a few centimeters to spare to the bar.
Despite having to do her jumps in fairly rapid succession she also added three good attempts at 1.97m, the second of which ought to be billed "excellent". She only very slightly touched the bar so that it – after some delay as if it hesitated for a while – slipped off the supports. But it still was a definite confidence boosting competition for Green, who despite four straight global outdoor championship finals is still looking for her first World indoor final.
Nossmy had much early success (gold at 1999 European Youth Olympics, 5th at 2000 World Juniors, gold at 2001 European Juniors and silver at 2003 European U23's) but injury woes have kept him out of action most of the time during the last four or five years. He still persevered and last summer returned to action in such good form that only bad weather kept him out of qualifying for Berlin.
This winter he dipped under the Doha-standard already in January when – despite a sluggish start – he finished third in Glasgow after which he has shown consistency on that level. And in head-to-head competitions he has demonstrated a competiveness beyond his statistical level. So when Nossmy now this Sunday despite lacking any kind of real competition still ran 7.75 and 7.73 it was definitely a sign that he should be in the mix for at least the semis at the World Indoors.
A squad of seven confirmed for Doha
At this moment the Swedish team for Doha has seven athletes confirmed. In addition to Olsson, Green and Nossmy it is long jumper Michel Tornéus, 800m runners Mattias Claesson and Anton Asplund and female 1500m runner Ulrika Johansson. Of those Claesson and Johansson unfortunately missed this weekend due to respectively a slight cold and a minor calf problem, however none of which should stop them from contesting the World Indoors in two weeks.
Tornéus and and Asplund both won their events in convincing fashion. Despite never getting close to really hitting the board, something that kept the nominal distance of his jumps in the 7.70m bracket, Tornéus proved that he has the 8m+ jumping ability necessary to be a contender for a place in the final in Doha.
For Asplund – who turned 19 just before the New Year – Doha will mainly be a first opportunity to load up on valuable international championships experience. Here in Sätra he took his first ever national seniors title comfortably running his own race from the front like an experienced veteran. After leading from start to finish Asplund - without extending himself noticeably - won by two seconds.
Two more names will probably be added to the Swedish team for the World Indoors as both Lena Berntsson and Emma Rienas in a tightly fought battle in the 60m final met the Doha standard of 7.37. Berntsson, who has competed also in the World Weightlifting Championships and who reached the 60m semis in Valencia two years ago, finally won by 0.02 in 7.35.
With quite a lot of the established names missing Asplund was not the only athlete born in the 1990's taking advantage of the opportunity to get onto the senior podium. The generation with their current focus on Moncton and the World Juniors in July even grabbed the gold medals in the men's High Jump (Erik Sundlöf 2.19 and very, very, very close at 2.21m) as well as in the women's 800m (Elin Moraiti from three more juniors!), Triple Jump (Kristin Franke Björkman) and Pole Vault (Angelica Bengtsson).
The World Youth champion from last summer Bengtsson – who doesn't turn 17 until summer – after securing the win by clearing 4.30m asked for the bar to be put up at 4.42m. All her three attempts demonstrated that such heights are clearly within her reach. It should in this context be noted that the World Junior record is 4.48m and that the World Youth best performance stands at 4.40m.
Click here for Saturday’s results
Click here for Sunday’s results
A. Lennart Julin for the IAAF
And provide quality performances both of them did. Green, after exactly matching the Doha standard of 1.92m in each of her three previous competitions, showed a definite rise in form with two weeks to go until the World Indoor Championships. Entering at 1.86m she had the competition won after the next height (1.90m) and then cleared 1.94m with a few centimeters to spare to the bar.
Despite having to do her jumps in fairly rapid succession she also added three good attempts at 1.97m, the second of which ought to be billed "excellent". She only very slightly touched the bar so that it – after some delay as if it hesitated for a while – slipped off the supports. But it still was a definite confidence boosting competition for Green, who despite four straight global outdoor championship finals is still looking for her first World indoor final.
Nossmy had much early success (gold at 1999 European Youth Olympics, 5th at 2000 World Juniors, gold at 2001 European Juniors and silver at 2003 European U23's) but injury woes have kept him out of action most of the time during the last four or five years. He still persevered and last summer returned to action in such good form that only bad weather kept him out of qualifying for Berlin.
This winter he dipped under the Doha-standard already in January when – despite a sluggish start – he finished third in Glasgow after which he has shown consistency on that level. And in head-to-head competitions he has demonstrated a competiveness beyond his statistical level. So when Nossmy now this Sunday despite lacking any kind of real competition still ran 7.75 and 7.73 it was definitely a sign that he should be in the mix for at least the semis at the World Indoors.
A squad of seven confirmed for Doha
At this moment the Swedish team for Doha has seven athletes confirmed. In addition to Olsson, Green and Nossmy it is long jumper Michel Tornéus, 800m runners Mattias Claesson and Anton Asplund and female 1500m runner Ulrika Johansson. Of those Claesson and Johansson unfortunately missed this weekend due to respectively a slight cold and a minor calf problem, however none of which should stop them from contesting the World Indoors in two weeks.
Tornéus and and Asplund both won their events in convincing fashion. Despite never getting close to really hitting the board, something that kept the nominal distance of his jumps in the 7.70m bracket, Tornéus proved that he has the 8m+ jumping ability necessary to be a contender for a place in the final in Doha.
For Asplund – who turned 19 just before the New Year – Doha will mainly be a first opportunity to load up on valuable international championships experience. Here in Sätra he took his first ever national seniors title comfortably running his own race from the front like an experienced veteran. After leading from start to finish Asplund - without extending himself noticeably - won by two seconds.
Two more names will probably be added to the Swedish team for the World Indoors as both Lena Berntsson and Emma Rienas in a tightly fought battle in the 60m final met the Doha standard of 7.37. Berntsson, who has competed also in the World Weightlifting Championships and who reached the 60m semis in Valencia two years ago, finally won by 0.02 in 7.35.
With quite a lot of the established names missing Asplund was not the only athlete born in the 1990's taking advantage of the opportunity to get onto the senior podium. The generation with their current focus on Moncton and the World Juniors in July even grabbed the gold medals in the men's High Jump (Erik Sundlöf 2.19 and very, very, very close at 2.21m) as well as in the women's 800m (Elin Moraiti from three more juniors!), Triple Jump (Kristin Franke Björkman) and Pole Vault (Angelica Bengtsson).
The World Youth champion from last summer Bengtsson – who doesn't turn 17 until summer – after securing the win by clearing 4.30m asked for the bar to be put up at 4.42m. All her three attempts demonstrated that such heights are clearly within her reach. It should in this context be noted that the World Junior record is 4.48m and that the World Youth best performance stands at 4.40m.
Click here for Saturday’s results
Click here for Sunday’s results
A. Lennart Julin for the IAAF
