by Jonas Hedman
Meraf Bahta, Photo: Deca Text&Bild
Jonas Hedman provides the view from Scandinavia, and this is his column full of details on runners from Scandinavia and how they have done during the Rio Olympics! More to come! Sweden, Norway and Finland, as well as Denmark have a wonderful tradition in athletics.


Day 5


Best Scandinavian Placing so far when Meraf Bahta Finished Sixth at 1500m


The Scandinavian countries had little success during the first four days of the Olympics in Rio but on the fifth Sweden’s Meraf Bahta, 27, finished sixth in the 1500m final in her debut in a global championship which is the best Scandinavian placing so far in Rio.
The final started very slow with 76 seconds on the first lap and 2:27 at 800 meters and that was when the race really startade since Genzebe Dibaba went to the top. She ran the third lap in an amazing 56.7 but was finally beaten by Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon who won in 4:08.92. Bahta was ninth at the bell but finished very well with 2:00.7 for the last two laps and caught three girls during the last 400 meters.
- But I am a little disappointed. I lost a lot of ground 700 meters from home and wasn’t able get into the medal fight which was my goal”, said Bahta.


First Swedish finalist at 1500m

Bata became the first Swedish woman to reach an Olympic 1500m final and the placing is the best by a Swede for 56 years. In Rome 1960 Dan Waern finished fourth.
Meraf Bahta was born in Eritrea and came to Sweden in 2009 as a refugee. She became Swedish citizen in December 2013 and won the 5000m title at the European championships in 2014 (silver this year). She missed most of 2015 due to a foot injury but came back better than ever this year and set Swedish records at 3000m (8:43.08), 5000m (14:49.95) and 10k road (31:26). She qualified for the Olympics also at 5000m but choosed the shorter distance just a week before the Games.


The brothers Ingebrigtsen almost made it

Behind Meraf Bahtas sixth place the Tuesday included both ups and downs for the Scandinavians. At the women’s 5000m heat Norway’s Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal had no problem to advance to the final at 15:17.83 after finishing ninth at 10 000m in a personal best of 31:14 last Friday. At the men’s 1500m heat countryman Henrik Ingebrigtsen, who was fifth in London 2012, qualified for the semifinal after finishing fifth in his heat at 3:38.45.

His younger brother Filip made his debut at a global championships after a sensational win at the European championship five weeks earlier when Henrik was third. Filip improved his personal best to 3:33.72 in Monaco in the middle of July which showed capacity to be a finalist in Rio. But he made several tactical mistakes in his heat which started in a slow tempo, and was trapped when almost the whole field reached the finish straight at the same time. Filip first tried to get through on the inside but found no space and finally boxed himself between two runners just before the line. One of them, Great Britain’s Charlie Grice, lost speed while the Norwegian finished fifth which was enough for advancement. But, he was later disqualified and Grice was promoted to the semifinal. 


No final for Angelica Bengtsson

In the womens pole vault qualification two Swedes and two Finns competed and all four failed to reach the final. 2015 World championship fourth placer Angelica Bengtsson, Sweden, had three close attempts at the automatic qualifier 4.60 and Finland’s Minna Nikkanen cleared 4.55 but had a foul at 4.45. That meant the two finished just outside the final. 2015 World championships finalist Michaela Meijer cleared 4.45 but injured her leg slightly at the next height which made her unable to manage it. World junior record holder (4.71) Wilma Murto, Finland, disappeard at 4.45.

Another jumper that couldn’t pull everything togheter was Sweden’s long jumper Khaddi Sagnia who was seventh at the World championships in Beijing. She managed only 6.25 in a jump where she left 26 centimeters on the board. At the end 6.53 was enough to reach the final.


No advancement for Susanna Kallur

The women’s 100m hurdles included three Scandinavians and two advanced to the semifinals. Norway’s Isabelle Pedersen finished third in her heat and targeted her personal best with 12.86. Finland’s Nooralotta Neziri got the same placing in hers (12.88). 
Veteran Susanna Kallur, Sweden, was not successfull in her third Olympics and finished fifth in her heat in 13.04 – 0.05 to slow to be one of the 24 semifinalists (see separate article).
 

Impressive running by Slott Petersen

Three Scandinavians competed at the women’s 400m hurdles heats and two advanced to the semifinals on Wednesday, both from Denmark. Sara Slott Petersen is a medal contender and had no problem to finish second in 54.55 behind the gold favourite Dalilah Muhammad (53.89). Stina Troest also ran a good race setting a season best of 56.00 (1.01 from the final).

In the men’s competition 20-year-old Norwegian Karsten Warholm almost repeated his national record 48.59 from the heats when finishing in 48.81. That was his second best time and only 0.21 from a spot in the final. Finland’s Oskari Mörö had 49.75 after a national record 49.04 in the heats.
400m hurdles – a good Swedish event historically

Sweden have had several good runners at 400m hurdles during the years but no one on the global stage in recent years when it comes to men. The most successful one is Sven Nylander who was born in 1962 and was fourth in two Olympics and two World championships during the 1980’s and 1990’s. At the Olympics in Atlanta 1996 he set a Swedish record in the semifinal running 48.21 and then went on to run even faster in the final.

Down the homestraight he had a fight with Calvin Davies from USA, a fight he lost but at age 34 he finally broke 48 seconds running 47.98, missing out on the bronze medal with just 0.02. Nylander lived in California for several year during the 1980’s but then moved back to Sweden and has four sons.


Niklas Wallenlind – fifth in Barcelona 1992

Another good Swede at the event was Niklas Wallenlind, born 1968, who was fifth at the Olympics in Barcelona 1992 after setting a national record of 48.35 in the semifinal.
Nylander retired at age 35 in 1997 and Wallenlind two years later and since then Sweden hasn’t had any male 400m hurdlers on international level. Hopefully that will change in the future since one of Sven Nylander’s sons, Viktor Nylander, 18, made his debut in the event this year and qualified for the World junior championships in Poland where he reached the semifinal. Niklas Wallenlind has two sons, Simon, 18, and Josef, 15, and both are talented runners. But it looks like both have choosed the middle distance events which means we will probably not see Nylander vs Wallenlind at 400m hurdles in the future.


