Amel Tuka

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Amel Tuka
Amel Tuka, 2015 World Championships in Athletics Beijing.jpg
Personal information
Nationality Bosnian
Born (1991-01-09) 9 January 1991 (age 34)
Kakanj, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight 77 kg (170 lb)
Sport
Sport Track and field
Event(s) 800 metres
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s) 400 metres: 47.19[1]
800 metres: 1:42.51[1]
Medal record
Men’s athletics
Representing  Bosnia and Herzegovina
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Beijng 800 m

Amel Tuka (born 9 January 1991) is a Bosnian middle-distance runner who specializes in the 800 metres. Tuka holds two national records of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the 400 metre and 800 metre disciplines. On July 17, 2015, With his time of 1:42.51, Tuka positioned himself as the world leader in the men's 800 metres in Monaco for the year 2015.[2][3] He subsequently earned his country's first medal in a major athletics championship with his third-place finish in the men's 800 meters at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics.

Running career

Tuka was recruited by Atletski Klub Zenica to train full-time in track and field after winning a low-profile 400-m race in Zenica.[4] Since then he has become the most competitive middle-distance runner in the country, having competed and won medals in numerous regional and continental (European) championships.

In June 2013, Tuka won the 800 metre race at the 2013 European Team Championships Third League, running a time of 1:51.11. Less than a month later, Tuka earned third place at the 2013 European Athletics U23 Championships in the 800 metre, running a national record time of 1:46.29.[5] After the championships, Tuka moved from his native Bosnia to Verona, Italy to train with coach Gianni Ghidini.[6]

At the 2014 European Athletics Championships, Tuka placed sixth in the men's 800 metres final, breaking his record by running a new personal best of 1:46.12.[7]

On July 1, 2015, Tuka won the men's 800 meters at the 20th Annual International Meeting in Velenje, Slovenia and qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics by running 1:44.19.[8] On July 11, 2015, he ran even faster, winning the men's 800 in Madrid with a time of 1:43.84.[9] The result in Madrid put Tuka as the seventh fastest 800 meter runner in the world at the time, tied with Boris Berian.[10] Just six days later at the high profile Herculis meet in Monaco, Tuka made another major improvement with a win of 1:42.51, making him the eleventh fastest 800 meter runner of all time and the fastest one in the world at the time.[3] In the process he gained a head to head victory over Olympic silver medalist Nigel Amos and defending World Champion Mohammed Aman.[11]

At the 2015 World Championships in Athletics, Tuka's finishing speed against conventional 800 meter runners caused world record holder David Rudisha to try a rarely used strategy of slowing the pace until the final 200 metres of the race. Tuka was perfectly positioned for his normal finish but Rudisha's exceptionally fast finish and strategic positioning by his Kenyan teammate Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich took Tuka out of his game. Tuka finished in bronze medal position.

Competition record

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing  Bosnia and Herzegovina
2010 European Team Championships — 3rd League Marsa, Malta 1st 800 m 1:51.43
9th 4 × 400 m 3:21.49
2011 European Team Championships — 3rd League Reykjavík, Iceland 9th 400 m 49.91
3rd 4 × 400 m 3:17.16
2012 European Championships Helsinki, Finland 24th (sf) 800 m 1:51.14
2013 European Team Championships — 3rd League Banská Bystrica, Slovakia 3rd 400 m 47.73
1st 800 m 1:51.11
European U23 Championships Tampere, Finland 3rd 800 m 1:46.29
2014 European Championships Zürich, Switzerland 6th 800 m 1:46.12
2015 European Indoor Championships Prague, Czech Republic 21st (h) 800 m 1:49.92
European Games — 3rd League[lower-alpha 1] Baku, Azerbaijan 1st 800 m 1:50.16
World Championships Beijing, China 3rd 800 m 1:46:30

Personal best

Performance Date Place
800 m 1:42.51 17 July 2015 Monaco

Running style

Amel Tuka has said when he was younger he idolized the style of running of athletics runner Jeremy Wariner; and why he decided to run 400m (instead of the more popular 100m).[12]

References

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External links

  • ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • ↑ [1] IAAF: Beijing 2015 - Men's 800m heats
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  • ↑ Klix: Amel Tuka šesti na Evropskom prvenstvu, oborio lični i bh. rekord, (Bosnian) 15 August 2014
  • ↑ [2] Zenica blog: Novi rekord: Amel Tuka ide na olimpijadu u Rio! 2 July 2015
  • ↑ [3] IAAF: Tuka times his finish to perfection. 11 July 2015
  • ↑ [4] Letsrun.com: 33rd Meeting Madrid 2015 Track and Field Results - July 11, 2015
  • ↑ [5] IAAF: Herculis Monaco Men's 800 meters results
  • ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.


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