After a break of one month, the best Bosnian athlete of all time, Amel Tuka, almost two weeks ago, started preparations for the new competitive season, in which his main goal will be to meet the norm for the European outdoor championship in Birmingham.
He managed, he pointed out in the conversation for Fena, to recover and completely reset after the season in which, after four years, he again managed to run his favorite discipline – 800 meters, in a time below 1:45.00, more precisely 1:44.91.
– Last season was encouraging and motivating for me. I fought, I worked. Of course, a time of 1:45.00 is a top result, but I knew I could and needed more. I am aware that I have set the bar very high and that top results are expected from me, but the period behind me has not been easy. All that had to be arranged and wait for everything to come into its own. Thank God it came. Most importantly, I feel very good and motivated. I come to the training sessions fulfilled, happy, motivated, with the desire to work and prove myself – Tuka pointed out.
Before the start of the preparations, he was tested in Italy, where his coach Gianni Ghidini is also located.
– I was tested, had a body check, visited a nutritionist, doctors, trainer… Simply put, we prepared everything for me to enter the next season, the preparatory period, healthy. Now the most important thing is that I take care of my body more and more, that I recover well, so that there is no injury that could remove me from the track – said Tuka.
Unfortunately, the time he ran last season was not enough to fulfill the norm and for a new appearance at the September World Championship in Tokyo, Japan, which would be a great success for the athlete who entered the 35th year of his life.
Especially since Tuka achieved his greatest successes at the world championships – bronze from Beijing in 2015 and silver from Doha in 2019, and which, along with the record of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also of the countries created by the breakup of the former Yugoslavia and the Balkans – 1:42.51 from July 2015, secured him the status of a world athletic legend.
Last season, however, apart from good time again in the 800 m, was more successful than the last few and due to the fact that he had the most valuable result in Bosnia and Herzegovina. athletics. The only BH an athlete who won a medal, a bronze at the Balkan Championship in Volos, Greece, and in the role of captain he also brought victory to the BiH national team at the European Team Championship in Maribor (Slovenia), which won placement in a higher rank, i.e. Division 2.
– The whole last season was good and successful for me. I also won the title of champion of our country at 800 m – says Tuka.
Preparations for the new season have just started, and he will probably know at the end of December whether he will perform in the hall, which he used to avoid.
After basic training, for the first three months, the plan is to go to warmer regions for a month’s preparation. Probably to the Republic of South Africa and return to the hall, and then return to Italy and “sort out technical things”.
He does the first part, introductory basic training in Zenica and combines work on the mountain, that is, on Smetovi, which, he says, have always been dear to him and give him new motivation. Other trainings are done at the Kamberovića Polje Athletic Stadium.
Given his already late athletic age, the question arises as to whether, like many middle distance runners, he was thinking of switching from 400 and 800 meters to one of the longer sections and thus extending his career.
– I didn’t talk about it with my coach, because I felt very good last season as well. The speed is there – which is the most important thing, and all the indicators in training are also very good. I even did some training much better than four or five years ago. I really take a lot of care of my body, I’m healthy, and that’s best seen in training – when we push the body to its limits. As for the goal for the next season, the goal is to meet the norm and to qualify for the EP in Birmingham – says Tuka.
Ending his career, due to all of the above, is still not an option, so he will have to wait a few more seasons for his last “goodbye to athletics”.
By winning the Diamond League race in Monaco on July 17, 2015, Tuka became the fastest 800-meter runner of the countries created by the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, because he broke the 41-year-old record of the legendary Rijeka resident Lucijan Šušnja, who sensationally won at the European Championships in Rome (Italy) in 1974 with a time of 1:44.07 and beat the then world record record holder Marcello Fiasconara.
Sušanj, until his death in April of last year, was the Croatian record holder in the 800 meters, and it is interesting that this summer, 10 years after Tuka, the Croatian record holder became 26-year-old Marino Bloudek, who ran this section in 1:44.01 on July 19 in Madrid. Bloudek, just like Tuka, is originally from Kakanj.
(Vijesti.ba / FENA)
