The Finns take the overall men's match with a 1, 2 finish in the 1500m (© Juha Sorri)
The second and final day of the annual Finland versus Sweden match - “Ruotsiottelu” / “Finnkampen” - was brought to a really tight conclusion in both the men’s and women’s matches, in front of 31,183 spectators (combined two day audience of 57,440).
Surprise - Finnish men win
If you still need convincing about the merits of this annual ritual you should have been here and seen 62,000 arms raised and heard 31,000 voices scream in unison as Juha Kukkamo and Jan Erik Salo flew off the final bend to take a one, two victory for Finland in the closing event of this meet, the men’s 1500m.
The winning time was 3:54.39. Yes, some of you are thinking, ‘hey my local club record is better than that!’ Quite probably, but you are forgetting times don’t matter here, its only points that count and this time they really did, giving Finland’s men an overall two point victory in their match (205 - 203pts).
At the top end of the individual results of international significance there was Sweden’s Robert Kronberg who took the men’s sprint hurdles in 13.49 seconds, and World Pole Vault bronze medallist Patrik Kristiansson who cleared the bar at 5.70m today.
Christian Olsson, has produced a 17.71m Triple Jump, a 2.28m High Jump and now a 7.84m Long Jump this season! Where does the 23 year-old’s talent end? The World and European Triple Jump champion’s distance was enough to win the Long Jump, in front of three Finns who occupied the 2nd to 4th places.
A 1-2-3 Finnish finish in the men’s Shot - Tiisanoja (20.05m), Reinikainen (20.01) and Karlsson (19.10) - and a 1-2 result in the Javelin - Wirkkala (80.07m), Pitkamaki (79.82) - was enough to delight the home crowd and provide the basis for a remarkable recovery for the home side, after an abysmal first day’s competition for Finland (96 to 108pts down after the first day).
The Finns also had something to shout about in a pretender to the famous title of ‘Flying Finn’, his name Jukka Keskisalo.
Keskisalo, 22, who was ninth (8:17.72 PB) in the World Steeplechase Final in Paris is according to Finland’s 1972 Olympic bronze medallist Tapio Kantanen the most outstanding national talent since a young Lasse Viren first contested this match back in the late 1960s. Today Keskisalo played with Sweden’s 24 year-old Mustafa Mohamed in a slow tactical race. 8:53.99 was the Finns’ winning time. Forget the time but don’t forget the name of Keskisalo, an heir to Finland’s double Olympic winner Volmari Iso Hollo (1932/36) is waiting in the wings.
Women – Klüft and Johansson play a decisive role
To the delight of the visiting fans, Sweden took a seven points win over the hosts (201.5 to 208.5),
The final points total would have been closer had Finland’s European silver medallist Heli Koivula-Kruger not succumbed to an unexpected defeat in the Triple Jump. However, the conclusion to the individual event could not have been closer, with Koivula in the sixth round taking a 1cm lead (13.81m) over Sweden’s Camilla Johansson, who then brilliantly responded with a 1 cm improvement of her own (13.82m).
As with the men’s 1500m forget the performance statistics, they are meaningless in an international context.
The noise in the stadium as the jumpers bounded down the runway would at most meetings have signified a major record or at least a world lead. But this match is not any normal athletics meeting, it is theatre on a grand scale, and the crowd revels in every performance in this annual sporting fest.
Sweden's combined events star Carolina Klüft, after electing to do “just” two events on this second day, began with a second place in the 100m Hurdles in 13.37 behind event specialist Susanna Kallur who won in 13.02. In her second event the 200m, she had to concede defeat to a weekend sprint double from Finland’s Johanna Manninen, 23.09 to Klüft’s 23.32. Still, five events in two days that produced points a plenty for her team - two firsts (inc. relay), two seconds, and a third place - can't be bad!
Helsinki 2005 – less than 100 weeks away to the Worlds
This year’s meeting was especially significant because Helsinki's stadium will now close for refurbishment and the building of a back-straight roof in preparation for the 10th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, 2005, which will be held in this venerable venue which hosted the 1952 Olympics.
The stadium, one of the Finnish capital’s architectural icons has also hosted the inaugural World championships in 1983, and two editions of the European championships – 1971 and 1994.
A marketing man’s dream
In the Nordic economic market place the tradition of the annual Finland versus Sweden match has gigantic pulling power. Even to those members of the public with little daily interest in Athletics, this contest matters.
In Sweden and Finland, the match is the US Open Golf, Wimbledon tennis, the Kentucky and Epsom Horse racing Derbys, the Monte Carlo motor racing Grand Prix, the Golden League and the World Athletics Final, all rolled into one. If you want to get your company message across to the Nordic world, there is no better annual opportunity.
If you had bought a copy of yesterday’s Helsingin Sanomat, the largest selling Daily broadsheet newspaper in the whole of Scandinavia (500,000 copies per day), you would understand the pulling power of the “Ruotsiottelu” / “Finnkampen”. Across the top of the front page was a half page advert showing a photograph of exuberant spectators at a previous edition of the match, waving their flags in celebration, with a slogan underneath from a telephone/internet company, selling their cheap rate web connections.
With 92% of Finnish households possessing at least one mobile phone and over 75% of the population having access to the internet, Finland is the most technologically connected nation on the planet, but even here they realize the power of an athletics tradition which began in 1925, an era in which the world’s telephone network was in it’s infancy and a telegram was the quickest way of receiving a message.
The Finland versus Sweden match has bucked all the economic and sporting trends of the last 75 years, and has continued to flourish as the rest of the world’s national matches have died out, with the exception of the limited programme of events offered by the annual GBR versus USA match in Britain.
Future is secure
The next generation is ready to follow the tradition too. The youth and junior members of 260 Finnish athletics clubs were given the privilege of parading around the track during tonight's session, filling the 400m circuit with thousands of smiling faces, waving flags and a wealth of enthusiasm.
The future is secure. There is only one match, the one and only “Ruotsiottelu.”
Chris Turner for the IAAF
NB. victories were also shared in the one day junior match Sweden taking the girls competition (92 - 102) and Finland the Boy's (104 to 90)
