¶mJavelin: Tero Pitkämäki (Finland) 90.33 (296-4)

[miguel]

So Pitkämäki will be first of the big names to throw. That's good (hoping we'll see Montréal '76 repeated)

...and hoping we'll not see Edmonton 2001 scenario repeated. Parviainen opened with 91.31 that I really thought would be enough. It is still the best non-winning result ever. But I can't see Zelezny in the field today

O'boy, this will be exciting!

[dj]

(T&FN premeet formchart positions in parens)
7 546 Tero Järvenpää FIN 8-82.10
80.30-6, 79.40, 82.10-7 / f, 77.30, 75.40
9 892 Igor Janik POL 7-83.38
79.82-7, f, 83.38-7 / f, p, if(c76)
6 941 John Robert Oosthuizen RSA 6-84.52
84.52 PR-2, 79.77, f / 79.18, f, f
1 956 Aleksandr Ivanov (6) RUS 5-85.19
85.18-1, 84.71, 81.42 / 84.91, 81.55, f
4 803 Vadims Vasilevskis (4) LAT 4-85.19
if (c74), 85.19, f / 77.42, if(c80.50), f
8 1102 Breaux Greer (3) USA 3-86.21
if(c79), 80.67-7, 84.31-6 / if(c76), 86.21-3, 83.81
5 872 Andreas Thorkildsen (2) NOR 2-88.61
82.78-2, 88.61-2, f / 82.80, if(c76), 87.33
3 550 Tero Pitkämäki (1) FIN 1-90.33
81.62-3, 89.16-1, 83.64 / 87.72, if(79.50), 90.33

2 465 Guillermo Martínez (7) CUB 9-82.03
82.03-2, 81.19, f /
11 1024 Magnus Arvidsson (8 ) SWE 10-81.98
79.80-8, f, 81.98
12 800 Eriks Rags LAT 11-80.01
f, 77.22-12, 80.01-11
10 554 Teemu Wirkkala (9) FIN 12-78.01
78.01-8, f, 76.48

[miguel]

Pitkämäki 89.16 in his 2nd throw!

[miguel]

Thorkildsen calls with 88.61!

[EPelle]

88,61m for Thorkildsen in return.

[miguel]

Pitkämäki wins!
90,33 in his last.

WOW!

[EPelle]

How fast did he just sprint that 60m on the way to celebrating!?

[jney]

awesome last throw by Pitki


congrats on the medal by Greer! I had the pleasure of meeting him at USA and he was great guy and really deserves this!

[LopenUupunut]

YYYYES! Eight years have passed since a Finn last won a WC gold medal... may it take longer than that for next WC with us not winning to come He still threw very high but not too much His coach said that if the 89.16 wouldn't have gone so high it would've been 95m or so...

[miguel]

It's irrevelant but I wonder if he would have thrown that 90m if the competition would not have been over? He knew the gold was his and could go for the last one without any pressure.

[pherekydes]

It's irrevelant but I wonder if he would have thrown that 90m if the competition would not have been over? He knew the gold was his and could go for the last one without any pressure.

And another question sort of on the same lines is, now that the pressure of his first major is off, will he go on to absolutely dominate Javelin in the manner of Zelezny. I'm thinking yes. That last throw was quite revelatory. Nobody had thrown really long before his 89, so the usual pressure didn't mount.

Just a thought.

[miguel]

It's irrevelant but I wonder if he would have thrown that 90m if the competition would not have been over? He knew the gold was his and could go for the last one without any pressure.

And another question sort of on the same lines is, now that the pressure of his first major is off, will he go on to absolutely dominate Javelin in the manner of Zelezny. I'm thinking yes. That last throw was quite revelatory. Nobody had thrown really long before his 89, so the usual pressure didn't mount.

Just a thought.

It's easy to forget that it took Zelezny several years to win his first major the undisputed javelin GOAT he is. He was a favourite way back in Roma '87 but it took him 6 championships (OG,2xEC,2xWC) and 6 years before getting his first gold medal. Zelezny was then 26 yrs old, Pitkämäki is turning 25 this year.

An other interesting fact is that since Zelezny had his international debut 20 years ago only 2 outside Europe has been on the podium, Corbett won in 1997 and Greer took the bronze today.
The fact that javelin has been dominated by the europeans actually makes Steve Backleys efforts almost as impressive. In the era dominated by Zelezny Backley won 4 EC golds, 4 global silvers and 1 bronze. I think most of us had forgot about that.

I think Thorkildsen and Pitkämäki are going to dominate the same way as Backley and Zelezny did. If Pitkämäki wins in Beijing, none of them will be forgotten the same way as Backley was because he didn't win a global.

[Per Andersen]

Congrats to Pitkamaki and Finland!
Tero is now a big meet thrower.
Thorkildsen was disappointed but not too much. He felt pain in the back from the 3rd throw on but said it would not have made a difference. He said he got all his power into the throws but was unable to hit the right flight.. He will throw again this season and then rest the back. Expects to be fine by next year.
So again Greer was unable to find a useful air pocket even if he can see them

But the top 4 came through in the throwing event that is usually considered the most unpredictable.

[26mi235]

Looking at eTrack it seems that of those in the top six places, only Greer improved his position after the Second Round (although Tero did get is best throw on the last toss, and nobody else improved position after the third round - but of course those below 8th did not have the opportunity).

[EPelle]

Free SVT Video: Pitkämäki says this was his dream
http://svt.se/svt/road/Classic/shared/m ... 7&a=899032