With a powerful first throw in the discus qualification in Paris, Vanessa Kamga broke the Swedish record and threw herself straight into the Olympic final. “I would just do my thing and I know I do it well,” she says. Caisa-Marie Lindfors did not make it to the final.
The discus qualification was decided in two groups where we had Caisa-Marie Lindfors in the first and Vanessa Kamga in the other. To qualify directly, it was necessary to throw 64.00 meters and it was the top 12 who went to the final.
And Vanessa Kamga put it there right away on her first throw. She stepped into the ring and got a lot of power behind the discus which flew away. And it flew far. So far that she threw herself directly into an Olympic final, and that with the new Swedish record of 65.14.
– In front of my mother in the stands, that’s perhaps what I’m most happy about. It’s so fun! It’s an incredible feeling in the arena, there’s a lot of people, it’s loud and it’s a feeling that everyone wants so much. Somewhere you have to try to find yourself in that. I had great difficulty seeing where the discus landed and that is not what you should focus on either, but completing the throw. So I stood to the side and then I saw the number and just ‘I don’t think I’ve done more than that’, Vanessa laughs and continues:
– My plan before the qualifiers was to do my own competition and athletics geeks like you are, you have looked at many championships and what I think many people don’t do is to do what has brought them here and trust it. That was the feeling I wanted to take with me. I would just do my thing and I know I do it well.
Vanessa Kamga has had a fantastic year with a sharp development towards increasingly long distances. As recently as the beginning of July, she also broke a Swedish record with 65.09 and now it was time again.
– I started athletics when I was 17 and I’m 25 now, so every year I grow into the role of elite athlete. And to stand against these girls who you otherwise just sit at home and watch, I can draw strength from there, she says.
Vanessa finished fourth in the qualifiers and we will see Vanessa Kamga in the discus final on Monday at 20:30.
“Can walk with a straight back”
Caisa-Marie Lindfors started with a throw of 56.82 and followed up with an invalid throw in the second round. In the third throw, however, Caisa-Marie got better power behind the discus. It didn’t really reach 60 meters, but 59.29 from Caisa-Marie who has thrown 62.48 this year. Unfortunately, it was only enough for a 12th place in the qualifying group and the final chance was basically gone. When both groups had finished throwing, it was clear that 62.63 was required to reach the final.
– With a throw of 59 I can leave here with a straight back, but it’s clear that you always want to throw further, but it still feels perfectly fine. I knew it would be difficult, it’s still a perfectly ok throw and result. It’s the first full year of training after my three surgeries, so I just need a few more years of training and it should probably be a few more meters, says Caisa-Marie Lindfors, who is already starting to count down to the next Olympics in 2028.
– It was a fantastic atmosphere, it’s completely packed, it’s so cool to do an Olympics here.
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