Happy days for Faroese sports fans

KÍ Klaksvík sensationally beat Norwegian football champions Molde in Tuesday’s first leg of the third qualifying round in the Champions League.

The U-19 men’s handball national team saw off giants such as Sweden and Germany on their way to the quarter-finals of the IHF Men's Youth (U19) World Championship, where they today suffered a narrow defeat to Egypt.

 >> SEE ALSO Handball success boosts hope for Olympic recognition

The U-17 women’s handball national team triumphed over Greece and Israel on their way to the semi-finals of the Women's 17 EHF Championship. Today, however, they were knocked out by Spain.

And Jónas G. Isaksen yesterday won gold in the 400-metre dash at the European Athletics U20 Championships.

Results like these can be put down to a fundamental change of mindset among today’s young atheletes, according to former shot put athlete Heri Ziska.

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“Today’s athletes simply have higher ambitions. Athletes and coaches are now working much more actively to reach beyond the confines of our domestic leagues,” he says.

“Our inferiority complex appears to have vanished.”

Ziska currently works as a physical coach for Hoyvík’s H71 handball team, and he witnesses this ambition every day in his work.

 >> SEE ALSO Young athletes “under too much pressure”

“There are times when we almost need to ask the young players to go home. We tell them, ‘That’s enough for today, boys and girls’. But their ambition is simply unstoppable,” he explains.

“This drive has a ripple effect across our entire sports community. The result is an incredible evolution in which it is no longer okay to just take part in international tournaments. Now they aim beyond the first rounds – and, as we’re seeing, that’s exactly where they are going. It’s pretty impressive.”

Read the Faroese versions of this article here, here, here, here and here.

Translated by prosa.fo.

More Faroese News in English.