News16 Jul 2008


Pitkämäki 87.17m, while Evilä long jumps a windy 8.23m in Joensuu

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Tommi Evilä jumping in Joensuu (© Paula Noronen)

Long Jumper Tommi Evilä is holding the leader's yellow jersey in overall pole position in the Finnish Federation’s six meeting Elite Games Series after the third meeting was contested in Joensuu, Northern Karelia on Wednesday (16).

Evilä is heading for the overall first prize in the series of 30,000 euros heading into the two last meetings in Lapinlahti on 20 July and Lappeenranta on 3 August.

Evilä, a bronze medallist at the World Championships in Helsinki in 2005, opened with 7.84m and improved into 7.92 in the second round - both windy. Then, on the third attempt everything clicked in the right way and Evilä leapt 8.23.

It is one cenimetre better than Evilä’s Finnish record set on 28 June in Gothenburg, but unfortunately the wind helped him too much this time: +4.0m/s.

Evilä passed rounds 4 and 5 before leaping a windy 8.08 on his final jump.

"This is not my favourite stadium, and I must be satisfied with my first over 8.20 on the track which is not Mondo. As soon as I got my run-up ok, I flew far," said Evilä.

"I had a plan to jump only three times today, but the overall ranking situation in the Elite Games Series forced me to try once again," he commented.

A former pole vaulter Juho-Matti Pimiä, who jumped a windy 8.00m in the Sweden vs Finland match last year, produced the second longest jump of his career of 7.92m in the second round, but that was windy, as well.

Pimiä took a valuable second place as Brazil's Erivaldo Vieira was next with 7.83 (+3.6m/s) and Denmark´s Morten Jensen, fourth with 7.81 (+3.1m/s).

Pitkämäki well over 87 metres

World champion Tero Pitkämäki showed again in the Javelin that he will be a very hard man to beat at the Beijing Olympic Games.

Pitkämäki, who is second in the overall Elite Games competition, made his winning throw of 87.17 metres in the opening round in a good tail wind. Then Pitkämäki powered 84.81 and 85.53 releases away before two non-marked attempts.

"My foot slipped a bit on the first throw and then I took it easier trying not to throw so high. I had to be careful, and fortunately my ankle doesn’t seem too sore," said Pitkämäki, who had a couple of hard training days before Joensuu. "That's why my muscles were not in ideal form today," he explained.

Sean Furey of the USA held second position with his 80.45 in the second round, but in the last round Antti Ruuskanen secured a one-two for the Finns: 80.61m. Anyway, that was 25-year-old Furey’s first time over the 80m line.

Ruuskanen who won the season's opening competition in Kuortane in May with his PB of 87.33, has suffered from an ankle injury and will have only one more opportunity to show top form to the Finnish Olympic Committee. That will be in Lapinlahti on Sunday, as the team will be selected on Monday 21 June.

Keskisalo far from Finnish record

Jukka Keskisalo, the reigning European Steeplechase champion tried to break the Finnish record at 2000m on the flat, but could not make it in front of his home crowd.

Kenya's Kiprono Menjo, 8th in the 2007 World Championships 10,000m was the pace maker and held the pace through the whole competition. Menjo clocked 5:05.25 and won easily.

Keskisalo fought hard with Estonia's Tiidrek Nurme but was left in third place: 5:06.02 for Nurme and 5:07.45 for Keskisalo who was disappointed despite his new PB. Vesa Siivonen's national record of 5:00.51 from 1989 was never threatened.

"I ran a 8:22.35 Steeplechase in Rome last Friday, which was two steps forward. But this race is one step backwards," said the European champion.

"I’ll have a lot of good time to prepare myself for the Beijing Olympics. Less training kilometres but higher speed and some sharp races is what I need right now," said Keskisalo.

Kenya’s Silas Sang and Lewis Korir have run some very close long distance races in Finland in this summer. This time Sang won over 5000m, 13:37.03 to Korir’s 13:50.03.

Mikko Lahtio, who is likely to be selected to Finland’s Olympic Team, spurted with 150m to go into the first place in the 800m in 1:47.66, 0.23 seconds ahead of Lithuania’s Vitaly Kozlov.

Israel beats Kruger in the Discus Throw

Discus Throwing was almost a lottery in very difficult wind conditions and Estonia's Märt Israel and Finland's Frantz Kruger were the only ones to throw over 60m.

Israel had a best of 63.30m in the 3rd round and won by 92 centimetres from Kruger (62.38m). Ukraine's super-talented youngster, 17-year-old Mykyta Nesterenko produced 61.68 to take third place.

Jamaican Jovannee Jarrett leapt a windy 6.46m in a women’s Long Jump competition in which the wind blew hard from behind the jumpers. Only one measured jump was legal in the whole competition, and mostly the wind was about  +3,5 to +4.5m/s.

Jarret beat Korea’s Jung Soon-ok by only one centimetre, and another Jamaican, Nolle Graham placed third with 6.38.

There was no encouraging news for the home crowd in the women’s Javelin Throw, as the only Finn who has set the "A" Entry Standard of 60.50m for Beijing, Mikaela Ingberg, placed only third after producing just 54.05.

If Ingberg cannot solve her back problems she may miss the Olympics for the first time since 1996, when she was 7th in Atlanta in a final won by her team mate Heli Rantanen.

Korea's Kim Kyong-Ae threw 55.84 for the winning result in Joensuu, and a-18-year-old Finn Oona Sormunen, who is coached by 1987 World champion Seppo Räty, also beat Ingberg.

Difficult conditions in the sprints

In the sprints the wind conditions destroyed hopes for good results. Keston Bledman of Trinidad and Tobago, a World Junior bronze medallist in 2006, ran 10.47 in the men’s 100m into a head wind of +2.3m/s.

Bledman’s compatriot Emmanuel Callendar placed 3rd but was the fastest in the heats which was run on the back straight in a tail wind. Callendar clocked 10.18 in a wind of +2.3m/s and won the 200m in 21.31 seconds (-2.5m/s).

In the women’s 100m Jamaica’s Sheri-Ann Brooks was a very clear winner but had to push against the wind of 1.6m/s. Brooks, a silver medallist in the 4x100m relay at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka last year, ran 11.50 and Ayanna Hutchinson of Trinidad & Tobago placed second in 11.79.

Finland’s Sari Keskitalo ran a windy 11.34, faster than ever before, in the 100m and won the 200m in 23.61. A promising time for Keskitalo, because the head wind was 1.1m/s.

During the women’s 100m Hurdles final the head wind blew 2.0m/s and Ukraine's Olena Krasovska, the Olympic silver medallist in Athens in 2004, could only clock 13.54 as her winning time.

A-P Sonninen for the IAAF

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