Tero Pitkämäki’s qualification and final performances highlighted the Finnish Championships on the blue Kimpinen track in Lappeenranta during the weekend.

Competition record 88.67 in qualification round

The 24-year-old, easily the brightest star of Finnish Athletics at the moment, was naturally the focus of the champs. Before the competition started, Pitkämäki even did his final training in public. Several hundreds of people were watching the training and on Sunday evening the stadium was absolutely packed to see the Seinäjoki-based athlete steal the show once again.

But it was not all easy for Tero this time. For the first time in the Finnish Championships, a new rule was used for field events and only eight best from the qualifications advanced to final.
 
In Finland a qualification standard of 71 metres (which would be enough for a medal in most of the countries in the world) is required to attend the champs and sixteen athletes were competing in the qualification round. Pitkämäki was throwing in the first group and decided to take it easy. And that did not work at all, his first throw just slipped out of his hand and landed at 72.04m.

In the second throw the javelin’s tail scratched the track in the throwing process and managed to fly only 75.00m, which was enough for equal fifth place in the first group and surely not enough for the final. For the last throw the number one thrower in the world decided to use full speed and power and the outcome was equal to that. His 88.67m third throw was the best ever qualification mark by a Finn and third best ever, only Jan Zelezny (CZE) has twice thrown further, in Sydney Olympics and Edmonton World Championships qualifications.

Tero throws even further in final

In the final Pitkämäki opened with a good 85.04m. In the second round Tero Järvenpää threw further but it was a narrow foul landing at about 85.5m. Järvenpää finally got a good throw in round five with 81.01m, which was enough for second place and a spot in the Osaka team to accompany Pitkämäki and Teemu Wirkkala, who was third today with a 80.86m result.

Pitkämäki used the nice slight following wind in round two winning with another big throw and competition record of 89.43m, bettering his one day old CR from the qualifications. The winner then fouled two throws and decided to pass the two remaining ones because of the extra energy used in Saturday’s qualification to avoid any possible injuries.

First Finnish title for Kruger

Sunday witnessed another good throwing performance in the men’s discus throw. The following wind certainly did not help the throwers, but still the new Finn, Frantz Kruger, grabbed his first Finnish title in style producing a couple of big throws with his best 66.37m coming in round five.

A 64-metre man this year, Mikko Kyyrö, only managed 59.93m for second place which puts Kruger’s winning result into perspective. Kruger is still hoping to get the permission to compete for Finland in Osaka. While interviewed on Finnish radio, fully in Finnish, Kruger said that he was really content to get two 65m+ throws in difficult windy conditions. He added that he’s very eager to represent Finland in Osaka and hopes for a positive verdict for his participation there.

Robert Häggblom took his first national outdoor title on Friday with a winning toss of 20.07m, exactly the same distance he achieved in February while winning the national indoor champs, and made sure he is the best shot putter in Finland at the moment. But on Sunday there was bad news for him as he had sprained his ankle in training while still staying in Lappeenranta and his Osaka trip is now doubtful.

OP takes national title Evila is beaten

In the men’s Hammer Throw a lot was expected from Olli-Pekka Karjalainen, but little did come. OP won the event with a 76.57m result with David Söderberg quite close behind taking the silver medal with a 74.91m best throw. Karjalainen, who had a similarly unconvincing season last year before the European Championships, still managed to grab a silver medal there and has some hope of a good placing in Osaka.

In the men’s Long Jump 2005 World Championships bronze medallist Tommi Evilä, hampered by injuries lately, suffered a rare loss. European U23 Championships silver medallist Petteri Lax was too strong for Evilä, who could not yet use his full speed. Evilä managed a “14-step personal best” 7.85m, but Lax had three jumps better than that distance with the best 7.97m coming in round one. With the first jump being wind aided with +2.6 m/s wind, Lax also set a personal best in the competition with 7.93m.

In the Triple Jump Johan Meriluoto took his 10th national title with a modest result of 16.18m. Matti Mononen won the Pole Vault, but still could only manage to equal his season’s best 5.45m which is far away for the heights he is aiming at. Mononen was not selected in the Osaka team. Oskari Frösén won a tight High Jump competition with a good 2.27m with Osku Torro taking second place with the same height, a personal best.

On the track…

In the running events the 200m surprise winner of the European U23 Championships, Visa Hongisto, continued his good form winning easily in 20.98. Jussi Utriainen scored a double win over 5000/10,000m in 14:08.65 and 29:43.14 respectively. Francis Kirwa was second in both races.

Joonas Harjamäki won the 3000m Steeplechase in the absence of Jukka Keskisalo with a personal best time of 8:53.11 and Antti Korkealaakso equalled his personal best to take his first national title in the 110m Hurdles in 13.89. Jussi Heikkilä won the 400m Hurdles in 50.53 and was also second in the flat 400m.

Manninen back from injury

In the women’s events the results were not as good as for men, but that was expected. Johanna Manninen, who has made a promising comeback after serious injury won the 100m in 11.40, but managed to clock 11.30 in the heats. Manninen said that her operated leg is still not 100% and running several races on the same day can be a problem.

In the 800/1500m twins Mari and Minna Järvenpää ran to a historic double-double. Mari won both events and Minna was the silver medallist in both. Mari set a season’s best 2:04.70 in the 800m with Minna also finishing in SB 2:05.66. The 1500m winning time was 4:24.70.

Annemari Sandell-Hyvärinen won the 10,000m in a slow 35:23.78. The time was almost four minutes slower than her 31:40.42 national record and then World junior record which she set at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, but she did give birth to her second child just three months ago.

Near National record win for Halkoaho

In the 100m Hurdles Johanna Halkoaho ran a fast 13.18 heat just missing the national record by 0.05, but slowed down to 13.35 in the final for a very narrow win ahead of national record holder Hanna Korell who was credited with the same time. Ilona Ranta won the 400m Hurdles in 57.21, but she also ran a faster heat, 57.18.

In the women’s field events the best result was achieved by Merja Korpela in the hammer. The 26-year-old threw 68.65m in the fifth round for a personal best and her first national title. She had been second for three consecutive years. Sini Pöyry was second with 67.23m and Lena Solvin took third place with a 64.45m personal best.

In the women’s javelin 34-year-old Paula Tarvainen, sixth at the 2005 Helsinki World Championships, finally found her rhythm and nailed her first 60m throw of the season. Tarvainen’s winning mark was 61.03m. Taina Kolkkala also set a season’s best for second place with a 59.50m throw. Mikaela Ingberg took another medal with a 57.44m result, but needs a big result in the next competition if she want’s to make it to Osaka.

37-year-old Natalia Kilpeläinen-Bäck won the third straight title with a 13.87m season’s best and Hanna Mikkonen won her seventh title in eight years, during 2000-2007 she has only missed 2004 because of an injury. Mikkonen set a season’s best 1.86m winning the competition.

In the women’s Pole Vault the European Junior champion Minna Nikkanen has really been challenged lately by Vanessa Vandy who set a personal best 4.20m co-leading the competition with Nikkanen, but the more experienced junior took the win with a 4.25m clearance with Vandy taking the silver medal.

In the multi events Salla Rinne won the women’s Heptathlon with a personal best 5894 points and Jaakko Ojaniemi took the Decathlon scoring 7613 total points.

15 athletes were added to the Finnish team for Osaka with six chosen earlier. More athletes can be added if their performances are good enough before the final entry date of 13 August.

Mirko Jalava for the IAAF

For Full Results please click here

Finnish team for Osaka as of 5 August:

Men

200m: Visa Hongisto

Marathon: Janne Holmén, Francis Kirwa

High jump: Oskari Frösén

Shot: Robert Häggblom, Mika Vasara

Discus: Mikko Kyyrö, Frantz Kruger (if granted permission)

Hammer: Olli-Pekka Karjalainen, David Söderberg

Javelin: Teri Pitkämäki, Teemu Wirkkala, Tero Järvenpää

50km walk: Antti Kempas, Jarkko Kinnunen

Women

100 m: Johanna Manninen

Pole vault: Minna Nikkanen

Hammer: Merja Korpela

Javelin: Paula Tarvainen, Taina Kolkkala

Heptathlon: Salla Rinne