The Paralympics|Track and field athletes Leo-Pekka Tähti and Amanda Kotaja will compete in the 100-meter final in the evening.
Paris
Finns will be looking for medals tonight in Paris, but the preliminaries showed that the Paralympic gold is up for grabs.
Five-time Paralympic champion Leo-Pekka Tähti was in the T54 class men’s 100 meters in the shared third place in the preliminaries with a time of 13.84. Amanda Kotja third fastest in the women’s preliminaries with a time of 16:00.
Kotaja experienced a surprising sadness just before departure.
“Just when we were coming to the stadium, I noticed that my front tire is completely empty”, Kotaja wondered.
“Honestly, I didn’t know how it would affect the rewind. I tried to calm myself down, good start, good finish, just make it to the final.”
Kotaja also succeeded in that.
“It was such a small mental struggle at the starting line.”
When he came to the race venue, he had an extra front tire with him. However, it had already been taken away when the curlers had to move towards the track, so nothing could be done.
Kotaja was second in his own heat.
“I had pumped up this tire just before I went to exercise. It could be that the tire is even slightly punctured. There hasn’t been any big bang, but maybe it’s slowly deflated. All it takes is a small stone for the journey.”
For the final, Kotaja changes the entire front rim.
In the midst of his own troubles, he didn’t miss the fact that his competitors were pulling hard. American eight-time Paralympic champion Tatyana McFadden clocked 15.55 in Kotaja’s first round.
In Kotaja’s opinion, Tatyana McFadden looked frighteningly tough in the first round.
“He maybe even went a little frighteningly hard,” admitted Kotaja, who is aiming for his first Paralympic gold.
“Tatyana showed her nails again.”
Belgium, who is training in the same stable with him, also made a better time than Kotaja Lea Bayekula (15,87).
“I knew Lea very well. Good thing I can’t bring a better time anyway.”
Men’s Thailand in the heats Athiwat Mother-in-law was, as expected, the fastest with a time of 13.71.
Leo-Pekka Tähti rolled in a different heat than the Thai favorite, but even in that the Pori native finished second. Portuguese Mamudo Balde pushed through at the end.
“I saw that he was getting closer and closer. He had the desire to pass, but I didn’t pay too much attention to it, let the guy pull.”
Couldn’t he have passed in the final?
“You can never tell. We’ll see in the evening, who still has room to play, who doesn’t.”
The star said he just tried to pull as easy as possible. He believed in the final that he could do a harder time.
“If you get below this 13.84 in the finals, I think it’s pretty hard currency.”
“Nevertheless, there will be fierce competition for medals.”
The medal fight also includes Mexico Juan Pablo Cervantes Garciawho ran with Tähti at the same time.
The finale of the star will be played in the evening at 20:25 Finnish time. Kotaja’s Gold Hunt will be seen at 9:34 p.m.