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Wennerholm: My lasting memory of Finnkampen
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Photo: BILDBYRÅN
Alice and Emil Magnell Millán de la Oliva.
Sweden won the Finnkampen for both men and women.
But only after the sheer storm of protests and a lot of drama.
But my lasting memory remains the brothers Alice and Emil Magnell Millán de la Oliva.
Sweden’s answer to the Norwegian brothers Ingebrigtsen.
Yes, the brothers are getting more and more successful and Jakob Ingebrigtsen has already set a European record in 1500 meters this season with a fantastic 3: 28.68.
At the age of nineteen.
But Alice and Emil have made their breakthroughs this season and progressed in a way that amazes everyone.
Add in how you both handled your Finnkamp debuts – as cold as a workday.
Or the school desk in Alice’s case.
Emil ran home 10,000 meters without even running out of breath and set a new junior Swedish record with 29: 10.22.
And Alice also set a personal record when she ran third in the 800 meters.
These are two winning skulls.
Go your own way
But that’s not what they have the most in common with Team Ingebrigtsen.
It is a purely family affair, with Father Fidel Millán de la Oliva as coach who seems to be going his own way. Like the controversial father Gjert Ingebrigtsen.
It is not often that Sweden has had world-class runners at medium and long distances.
There is nothing to spoil us.
Sweden certainly has Kalle Berglund, who took a big step last summer when he became world ninth in Doha and set a Swedish record in 1500 meters with 3: 33.70.
But I’ve never come across such an exciting sibling couple, who have chosen not to include different parts of their last names because they get too long for the hit lists.
Alice has chosen the first two Magnell Millán.
Emil Sista Delen med Millán de la Oliva.
That alone shows well what personalities we are talking about here.
The two are among the funniest things to happen to Swedish athletics this summer.
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Finnkampen himself, then?
Yes, the ladies were as superior as they already were on paper before the start. It was a great victory at 221-186.
And gentlemen, I think I won by 206-201.
I write I think, as I do not know when the time for protests expires, but I hope that the victory will hardly be maintained.
But this was the Finnkamp of the protests. It was pure war for a time, when the Swedish and Finnish team managers protested and the competition jury had to work overtime.
Full set on each branch
You might think it’s a bit childish behavior, but I think it’s funny and it reminds me of the almost obnoxious mood that prevailed when I started watching Finnkampen. I have participated in a 1500 meter race where everyone washed up.
Those were the days. Then there were bulges, elbows, and foul play on every branch.
Today, Finnkampen is a much more welcome story, so it was a bit surprising that this protest war broke out.
And I can’t say that none of the washing was wrong, but they all followed the rules. Well, it was the way they were informed that was surprising.
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Now he became a special Finnkamp with all the bids that came. Not just on the Swedish side. The Finns also missed out on many of their best moments and many had finished the season when the decision to hold the competition really was delayed for so long.
Now I hope we avoid all that next year when Finnkampen is back at the Stockholm stadium.
That everything will be normal again, with an audience in the stands and a full season of the Diamond League.
The feeling is that more Swedes than ever can fight for places in the biggest galas when we write 2021.
It’s been a long time since it looked so bright.
And then I don’t even think of higher world ensembles like Armand “Mondo” Duplantis or Daniel Ståhl.
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