Finnish news

[donley2]

wTJ:
1. Caterine Ibargüen COL 13.97 (+0.9)
2. Olha Saladukha UKR 13.88
3. Dovilė Dzindzaletaitė LTU 13.84

First meet under 14 meters for Ibarguen since 2010. Is time finally catching up with her, or is there a slight injury?

[HBishop]

First meet under 14 meters for Ibarguen since 2010. Is time finally catching up with her, or is there a slight injury?

I guess it was simply freezing by her standards, as she was trying to keep warm wrapped in blankets between jumps.

[LopenUupunut]

The full Finnish WC team has been announced. I think this is the weakest team we've ever sent to a major championship meet... so far. If we get one athlete in the top 8 we can probably count that as a success; a medal would take a miracle.

--

mLJ:
Arttu Pajulahti - PB 810A/'17 - chances: none

Used to be our problem in the mLJ was that we had good jumpers, but no qualifiers. This year we have a qualifier, but no good jumpers. I can't blame Pajulahti for getting a good mark at altitude, but with a sea-level PB of 792 we can't really expect anything from him.

mTJ:
Simo Lipsanen - PB 17.14/'17 - chances: some

Lipsanen has been in career-best form this year; and technically, I suppose he's our great white medal hope, since the mTJ only has two really big guns (Taylor and Claye) and the third medal could be up for grabs. He's been consistent at high 16.xx, which should get him into the final. Unfortunately, he looked very flat at the NCs last week; that was the worst form I've seen him in this year, which doesn't bode well for the Worlds. Hopefully it was just temporary.

mHT:
David Söderberg - PB 78.83/'03 - SB 75.53 - chances: slim

Söderberg's done fairly well in major meets lately, making the top eight four consecutive times; and it would be silly to discount the possibility that the same will happen in London. Unfortunately, he's had back issues and had to scratch from the NCs, so a big improvement to his SB seems unlikely.

mJT:
Tero Pitkämäki - PB 91.53/'07 - SB 88.27 - chances: some

With injuries to Ruuskanen and Mannio, the vacuum behind our top throwers has become all too apparent; this is not what a Finnish mJT team should look like. Pitkämäki has been very consistent at 83 this year; hopefully that's enough that he can break his streak of two consecutive missed finals. A medal is not completely unthinkable but very unlikely.

m50kW:
Jarkko Kinnunen - PB 3:46:25/'12 - SB 3:58:55 - chances: none
Aleksi Ojala - PB 3:46:25/'16 - chances: slim
Veli-Matti (Aku) Partanen - PB 3:49:00/'17 - chances: slim

The only event where we have a full team; but hopes are not particularly high. Ojala is probably in the best form of the three, but he's had a lot of DNFs and DQs per finished 50K, including both of his previous major meet appearances and both of his 50K starts this year. Partanen was 18th in 2015 and appears to be in similar or very slightly better form now. Kinnunen seems to be past his best.

wMar:
Anne-Mari Hyryläinen - PB 2:32:19/'17 - chances: none

Nuff said.

wSteeple:
Camilla Richardsson - PB 9:41.73/'17 - chances: none

Her early-summer PB was a bit of an outlier; all her other times this year have been 9:5x. Not that it will make any difference in London.

wPV:
Minna Nikkanen - PB 461i/'16 - SB 455i (445 outdoors) - chances: slim

Nikkanen's had a less than good year; but she has a good major meet record and improved her outdoor SB at the NCs last week, so there's some hope she's finding her form at the right time and can challenge for a spot in the final.

Wilma Murto, who jumped 466 indoors, has been injured all summer; she opened her outdoor season at the Euro Juniors (where she took bronze with 415), but will skip the Worlds (and the rest of this year) to recover more fully.

wTJ:
Kristiina Mäkelä - PB 14.24/'16 - SB 14.18i (13.77 outdoors) - chances: slim

Mäkelä is only just back from a knee operation, and opened her season at the NCs. She has a fairly good track record in major-meet qualifications (less so in major meet finals...), and there's a chance she could make the final again, though I don't think it's likely.

wHJ:
Linda Sandblom - PB 193/'16 - SB 191i (184 outdoors) - chances: none

Her form lately has been so bad that she's been publicly wondering if there's any point in going to the Worlds.

[LopenUupunut]

mJT results from Orimattila:

1. Magnus Kirt EST 86.06 SB
2. Keshorn Walcott TTO 85.22
3. Tero Pitkämäki 81.96

Needless to say, this doesn't make me any more optimistic about Pitkämäki's chances in London. A good sign for both Kirt and Walcott, though.

[Pakilo]

I would like to see female javelin throwers stepping up to international scene. They seem lost for quite a while.

[LopenUupunut]

85.46 PB for Oliver Helander at Vantaa. Previous PB 80.25 from last year. Pitkämäki was second with 82.64.

Nice to have a real upcoming talent again, for the first time in a long while; but unfortunately we badly lack depth. I just hope he can avoid injuries.

[26mi235]

Improving by 5.21! That is more like a very good vault height -- or a TFN poster...

[Atticus]

Pitkämäki was second with 82.64.

Gotta love him. First broke 80m FIFTEEN years ago at age 20, still only 35.

[LopenUupunut]

Two NRs for walker Aku Partanen in quick succession: 18:43.17 for 5000 metres and 2:07:03 for 30 km. Both NRs were previously held by his coach, '95 World Champion Valentin Kononen.

Pitkämäki injured his leg at the Paavo Nurmi Games last week; he's hoping to throw at the Euros, but will not be anywhere near 100%. There will be no operation before the Euros, the grand master plan is to keep his leg in one piece for now by tape and force of will and hope there's still something left after the Euros to operate on. Needless to say, he's likely to have a very limited season outside the Euros.

[LopenUupunut]

Pitkämäki will miss the Euros, not sure yet if his career's over or not.

[LopenUupunut]

Results from Joensuu:

mJT:
1. Jakub Vadlejch CZE 84.65
2. Antti Ruuskanen 82.59 SB

Ruuskanen's third competition back, after losing the entire 2017 season to injuries. He's been steadily improving and seems to be getting back to some kind of form; probably too much to hope for an immediate return to 88, but with Pitkämäki out and Helander having some elbow worries he might be our #1 thrower again.

mSteeple:

1. Tolosa Nurgi ETH 8:31.69
2. Topi Raitanen 8:31.91 PB

w100H:

1. Nooralotta Neziri 12.86/+0.7 SB

wHJ:

1. Levern Spencer LCA 192
2. Ella Junnila 192 PB

Junnila ('98) improved her PB by 7 cm and moved to 2nd on the Finnish all-time list! Got the EC qualifier, too. She's the daughter of former long jumper Ringa Ropo, who's still the Finnish wLJ NR holder (685/1990) and was Euro indoor bronze medalist in 1989.

wJT:
1. Sofi Flink SWE 60.59 SB (her first 60+ throw since 2013)
2. Asdis Hjalmsdottir ISL 60.34 SB
...
6. Maria Andrejczyk POL 54.24 SB

[LopenUupunut]

88.02 PB for Helander yesterday (Saturday), moving to #7 on the Finnish all-time list. I guess his elbow problems aren't all that bad

[LopenUupunut]

Finnish champs this weekend. Some good improvements by national-level athletes, but few internationally notable performances.

Wilma Murto cleared 460 in the women's pole vault, her first really good jump since struggling through most of 2017 and 2018 (she had a lot of injury worries last year, and even this spring). Kristiina Mäkelä improved her PB to 14.31 in the wTJ, and had several other good jumps to back it up. Of other potential EC contenders, Simo Lipsanen looked not good in the men's triple jump, Oliver Helander won the men's javelin with 81.26 (he had a foul around 83 - he keeps fouling too much) and Aku Partanen won the men's 20k walk by almost seven minutes. This will probably be the weakest team we've ever sent to a major meet, we have a decent amount of athletes who've just scraped a qualifier but few if any realistic medal hopes.

[LopenUupunut]

The Finnish team for this year's Europeans. At the WCs last year I said that was the suckiest team that Finland's ever sent to a major championship, but this year's team is even worse. If there was a competition for the suckiest team sent that would be our best medal hope. We are sending a lot of athletes, but most of them only barely got the qualifying standard, or in some cases didn't even get it at all.

--

m200:
Oskari Lehtonen (PB/SB 20.88) - chances: none

Yeah.

m10K:
Arttu Vattulainen (28:48.43/'18) - chances: none

Yay.

m110H:
Elmo Lakka (13.67/'18) - chances: none

At least he's a clear and convincing #1 on the national level. I'm not sure if that's impressive or sad.

mSteeple:
Topi Raitanen (8:31.91/'18) - chances: slim

This is a somewhat more interesting entry. He's a two-sport athlete (track and orienteering) and has improved his times nicely this year, and he has a pretty good if usually rather short kick. I think he has upside and decent chances to make the final, but he's probably not quite there yet to really be a contender.

mPV:
Tommi Holttinen (555i/'18) - chances: none
Urho Kujanpää (555/'18) - chances: none
Tomas Wecktsten (555i/'18) - chances: none

It's truly bizarre that we somehow got three entrants in this event. If any of them make the final it's a miracle.

mLJ:
Kristian Bäck (PB 795/SB 793) - chances: slim
Kristian Pulli (807/791) - chances: none

Neither of them got the EC qualifying standard this year. Pulli has it from last year, I think Bäck will be allowed in because there aren't enough athletes with the qualifier. Bäck (son of Natalia Kilpeläinen) is in better form right now, I think; he won the Finnish championship quite convincingly. He was 5th in 2016, only 2 cm from a medal, when no one expected anything from him; and there's no reason to expect anything from him this year either, so he has that going for him.

mTJ:
Simo Lipsanen (17.14/16.84) - chances: slim

I'd really like to say he has some chances. The field isn't awfully strong this year. But he hasn't quite found the form he had last year. Also, he looked bad at the NCs; and last year, when he also looked bad at the NCs, he followed that up with another disappointing meet at the Worlds.

mSP:
Arttu Kangas (20.30/19.90i) - chances: none

mHT:
Henri Liipola (75.47/'18) - chances: slim
David Söderberg (78.83/73.46) - chances: slim

Söderberg has competed very little this year (by "very little" I mean "once"); but he has a good track record at major meets, so it wouldn't be a shocker if he managed to sneak into the final again. Liipola is younger and so far untested in big meets, unfortunately I feel he was in better form earlier this year, he didn't break 74 in July.

mJT:
Oliver Helander (88.02/'18) - chances: slim
Antti Ruuskanen (88.98/82.59) - chances: slim

Yeah, Finnish javelining has crashed so badly that with Pitkämäki out injured we only have two entrants and they're very unlikely to medal. Helander has the potential but he's been really inconsistent (and has fouled many of his biggest throws, which has made that lack of consistency even worse). Ruuskanen has already re-injured himself after missing the entire 2017 due to a previous injury; he's a fighter and could pull some kind of rabbit out of a hat, but with the level in Europe so strong this year he's not going to be in medal contention.

m50K walk:
Veli-Matti (Aku) Partanen (3:44:43) - chances: some
Aleksi Ojala (3:46:25/'16) - chances: slim
Jarkko Kinnunen (3:54:26/3:46:25) - chances: none

"Aku" Partanen is probably our best hope for a medal at this meet, though still a long shot. He's #3 in Europe this year (behind Bakulin, who isn't going, and Matej Tóth); and while that's misleading in that a lot of the best walkers haven't done a 50 this year, he has broken some of Valentin Kononen's NRs at unusual distances which has to be a good sign. Ojala's form is a bit of a mystery as he hasn't finished in his biggest races this year. His times when he has finished have not been very good, but I don't want to write him off completely. Kinnunen (at 33) is no longer as good as he used to be, he's still walking respectable times but is not a contender.

mDec:
Elmo Savola (7956/'17) - chances: none

He has a good name for a decathlete. That's about it.

m4x100:
Otto Ahlfors/Viljami Kaasalainen/Oskari Lehtonen/Samuel Purola/Eetu Rantala/Roope Saarinen: chances - none

Nope. Not gonna happen.

[LopenUupunut]

w800/1500:
Sara Kuivisto (2:02.14/4:08.96 - both '18): chances - none

She's been in career-best form this year, but the best she can hope for is good times by Finnish standards.

w100H:
Nooralotta Neziri (12.81/12.86) - chances: slim
Reetta Hurske (13.11) - chances: none
Annimari Korte (13.14) - chances: none

This was the only event where we needed to leave out an athlete (Lotta Harala) who had the qualifier. Neziri seemed to have lost her peak shape from 2016 but in her last races she's looked good again, if she can keep it up she could sneak into the final. Hurske is a specialist in super-fast reaction times, if the race ended at the first hurdle she'd be a contender, as it is the best she can hope for is that she doesn't start in 0.09 and get herself disqualified. Korte has been an inspiring comeback story if nothing else, she was a promising hurdler (semi-finalist at the World Youths in '05 and World Juniors in '06) who had serious health problems for a long time and concentrated on her career in sports journalism but never entirely gave up, now at age 30 she's finally back.

w400H:
Viivi Lehikoinen (56.49/57,26) - chances: none

This has been a somewhat disappointing year for her; she hoped to do well at the World Juniors in Tampere, but missed the final and was more than a second off her time at the Euro Juniors last year. She's been running SBs in practically every race though, hopefully she's peaking late.

3000 m ej:
Janica Rauma (9:51.88) - chances: none

Another surprisingly good season for an athlete who'd been generally written off. She ran 9:59.99 in 2011, that was her PB until she reached career-best shape at age 32 this year. Camilla Richardsson was supposed to run this event, but injured herself winning at the NCs.

wHJ:
Ella Junnila (192) - chances: slim

Unfortunately, she hurt her ankle some time ago, and although it's supposedly better now that's never good in the HJ. She did have an OK meet a few days ago though, so hopefully it won't bother her at the Euros.

wPV:
Wilma Murto (471i/460) - chances: slim
Minna Nikkanen (461i/445i) - chances: none

Murto has the potential, of course, but she's still on the comeback trail and hasn't found her consistency yet. Nikkanen is past her peak.

wTJ:
Kristiina Mäkelä (14.31) - chances: some

This is, somewhat surprisingly, an event where we have some outside chances. Mäkelä has looked not-so-great for most of the season but was really good at the NCs, hopefully she can carry that form to the Euros. It would be great to see her do well, she's one of the most outspoken critics of our national alphabet-soup organizations and we need that. Her track record in big meets is a bit mixed though, she's generally been really good in qualifying rounds but a bit disappointing in finals.

wSP:
Senja Mäkitörmä (16.95) - chances: none

Surprised everybody by qualifying. The 16.95 was a huge outlier though, and even if she could repeat that in Berlin it wouldn't help much.

wDT:
Salla Sipponen (58.36) - chances: none
Sanna Kämäräinen (61.07/56.96) - chances: none
Helena Leveelahti (56.80) - chances: none

Another event where we somehow got three athletes in, none of them are contenders though.

w20kW:
Elisa Neuvonen (1:35:09/1:38:32) - chances: none

Nope.

w50kW:
Tiia Kuikka (4:32:46) - chances: none.

More nope.

wJT:
Jenni Kangas (60.98/59.33) - chances: none

Still nope.

wHT:
Krista Tervo (69.42) - chances: none

No chances of international success. There is a chance though that she could finally wipe out the strangest statistical freak in Finnish athletics - Mia Strömmer's NR (69.63) from 2001. We've had several throwers since then who've been consistent in the 68-69 range (which Strömmer never was; her second-best throw was 67.57) but who've always fallen just short of the NR. The worst offender was Merja Korpela, with a top-10-meet average of 69.07 but a personal best of 69.56. Tervo's career record isn't quite that bad yet (she's broken 69 once and 68 five times so far), but she's still young and could potentially have many more years of steady 68 and low 69 coming. I hope she (or somebody else) can finally break through though.