{"id":1671,"date":"2018-06-09T14:21:44","date_gmt":"2018-06-09T14:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/2018\/06\/09\/middle-distance-women-looking-for-fast-times-as-the-scandinavians-aim-to-impress-local-crowd\/"},"modified":"2018-06-09T14:21:44","modified_gmt":"2018-06-09T14:21:44","slug":"middle-distance-women-looking-for-fast-times-as-the-scandinavians-aim-to-impress-local-crowd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/middle-distance-women-looking-for-fast-times-as-the-scandinavians-aim-to-impress-local-crowd\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle distance women looking for fast times as the Scandinavians aim to impress local crowd"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local favourite and winner of the 3000m here last year, Meref Bahta is also using the shorter distance as training for her 5000m challenge at the European Championships in Berlin later this summer.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Looking ahead to the race Olympic bronze medallist, second in the World Championships in London, USA\u2019s Jenny Simpson, said \u201cI love coming to Stockholm. My reason for this being one of my favourite meetings is that I came here as a college student and won.  <\/span>Last time I raced here I also won so I am hoping Stockholm will be good to me again.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span>She agreed that the quality of the line up tomorrow is very high and added, \u201cThe field is loaded but I do hope to finish in the top three.  <\/span>After Doha and the Prefontaine I am looking to be competitive so I hope it will be fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span>Brenda Martinez, who was sixth in the 800m in Oslo\u2019s Bislett Games last week, said \u201cIt really is a great field with all of us within two to three seconds of each other\u2019s PBs.  <\/span>I am looking forward to a very fast race.  After my 4:02 in Eugene I am looking to improve on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span>Meraf Bahta, the 2014 European Champion in 5000m, is looking forward to performing in front of her home crowd, \u201cWith the European Championships to aim for I am using tomorrow as speed training as I work hard for my longer, 5000m race in Berlin.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>With no major championships for the American athletes in 2018 they were asked about their priorities this year.  <\/span>Simpson said, \u201cIt is so great to have the opportunity to run fast without the pressure of qualification for a championships.  The Diamond League becomes the key for us.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/span>Martinez agreed adding, \u201cWithout the pressure of team selection \u2013 which in USA can be cut-throat \u2013 we can relax and post some fast times in the off-year.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>The Scandinavian trio of Norway\u2019s 400m hurdles star, Karsten Warholm along with Sweden\u2019s Lovisa Lindh and Andreas Kramer, are all feeling confident of using home support to their advantage tomorrow.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span>Warholm, the World Champion from London 2017, said, \u201cI was very happy with my personal best and Nordic record in Rome as a season opener.  <\/span>My target for the season was sub 48 so it was good to get that in my first race.  Obviously I was disappointed not to win and, gain, in Oslo, but I have things to work on for tomorrow.<\/p>\n

<\/span>\u201cI have to credit my coach \u2013 Leif Olva Alnes who has been brilliant with me.  <\/span>We have fun but we train hard.  I love coming here to Stockholm ever since I came here as a youth.  I always give my all which is why I may end up on the floor at the end!\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span>Asked about the rivalry with Qatar\u2019s Abderrahman Samba, who is currently in scintillating form with four consecutive sub-48 races, Warholm said, \u201cI like to win but I know he is running faster and I have to chase him and do the best I can.  <\/span>Currently he is running perfectly so I know I need to improve. For me I like the outside lane so the turns are softer.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/span>Sweden\u2019s Lovisa Lindh, the European bronze medallist, who made her 800m season debut in Oslo last week, said \u201cI started steady last week after returning from injury.  <\/span>I am taking things one race at a time and will decide after tomorrow my next race.  I was looking for the qualifying time for the European Champs which I got in Oslo so this gives me extra motivation now.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span>Andreas Kramer takes part in the loaded 1000m race tomorrow with Briton\u2019s Jake Wightman, Poland\u2019s Adam Kszczot and Kenya\u2019s Kipyegon Bett all expected to be in contention.  <\/span>He said, \u201cMy race in Hengelo was good but not a perfect run.  It was a good season opener and I think I can do better so I am looking for a good 1k tomorrow.  With two months to go to berlin it is too early to think about that but it is my target. I hope to do a PB tomorrow \u2013 even with the extra 200m!\u201d  <\/p>\n

<\/span>The Bauhaus Galan takes place tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon starting at 1500 hours.<\/p>\n

Carol Austin for the BAUHAUS-galan media team<\/i><\/p>\n

Picture: From left Meraf Bahta, Jenny Simpson and Brenda Martinez. Photo: Deca Text&Bild<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Women\u2019s 1500m, which closes tomorrow\u2019s Bauhaus Galan, is set to be one of the...","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"city":[],"class_list":["post-1671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stockholm"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1671"},{"taxonomy":"city","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/city?post=1671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}