Estonian Leonid Latsepov finished in third place in the Helsinki City Running Day half marathon on Saturday, but his time of 1:07:06 could have been faster if it weren't for a few stray fish hooks.
The race, which started and finished in the vicinity of Helsinki's Olympic Stadium, went smoothly for Latsepov until the Lauttasaari Bridge.
While crossing the bridge — which is a popular fishing spot — a person who was fishing lifted their line out of the sea and a gust of wind blew it straight into the Estonian runner.
The line wrapped around Latsepov's calf and other parts of his body. At the finish line's first aid station, four hooks were removed from him, some from his clothes and some from his lower leg.
"I didn't feel any pain immediately. I tried to remove the hooks, but was unable to do so. It ruined my run though, my whole race time could have been a minute faster. Herring fishing is also popular in Estonia, but I never thought this would happen to me," said Latsepov after the run.
Latsepov added that he could have finished second if it hadn't been for the hooks. Silver medallist Julius Muriuki beat Latsepov by 18 seconds while Solomon Boit won the men's half marathon in 1:04:25.
"Perhaps fishing should have been banned on the bridge during the race in such strong winds, or a greater distance put between people fishing and runners. Well, that's something to look back on," Latsepov said.
Area supposed to be closed off
Harri Hänninen, the event's director from the Finnish Athletics Federation, suspected that the person slipped onto the wrong side of the bridge to fish when there were no runners in the area.
"Basically, we instructed people who were fishing to leave the side of the bridge where the route runs. However, the other side of the bridge would have been left free for fishing," Hänninen said, adding that the incident was an "unfortunate and shocking event."
He further explained to Yle that while the race route follows along the northern side of the Lauttasaari bridge, people usually fish on the southern side.
"The northern side should have been free of people fishing. They had been informed by both the traffic control and the police that it was not possible to fish on the bridge during the runs," Hänninen said.
Hänninen added that the incident would not cause the route to be changed in future years, but traffic controllers will be more diligent in deterring people from fishing along the course of the race.
Edited for clarity.
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