Olli-Pekka Karjalainen of Finland roars his Hammer and team to the top of the European Cup (1st Div, Gp A) (© Hasse Sjögren)
The first day of European Cup First League Group A in Gävle, Sweden, promised a good atmosphere for the second day competitions as the battle for the Super League places for next season is really tight.
Sweden disqualified in the sprint relay
Men's favourites, Sweden, were looking to be in pole position to grab the win on Sunday before the last event, 4x100m relay, but were disappointed badly. Following a couple of bad exchanges, in particular the first one involving first leg runner Edmund Yeboah and Christopher Sandin. Their seventh place finish was eventually cancelled because of disqualification and Sweden finished the day in third place with a total of 51 points.
Finland leads
It's Sweden's eastern neighbours Finland leading the competition after day one totalling 59 points with Hungary in second place. Although Finland was anticipated to take the second place in the competition, it was still a surprise that their lead before Sweden is eight points at this stage. It was almost a perfect day for Finland with the only disappointing event being the men's 5000m where Juha Hellsten was only able to finish seventh in the race conducted with almost walking speed. Sweden's Henrik Skoog with the sprint finish in 14:59.84.
Karjalainen beats season's best
As usual, Finland was on top of the field events. They took three of the four events on day one and Oskari Frösén even challenged the 2004 Olympic champion Stefan Holm in the high jump finally losing 2.24m to 2.27m.
Olli-Pekka Karjalainen bettered his season's best with his winning mark of 78.16m and one of the biggest hope's of the home crowd in this summer's Helsinki World Championships is coming closer to his best form. Karjalainen did foul his first two throws, but showed good composure with his third throw landing at 77.61m, which would have been enough for the win, before unleashing his best 78.16m in round four. Krisztian Pars (HUN), who is tied with Karjalainen in the IAAF World Ranking in fourth, finished second with 77.04m. It was an important win for Karjalainen also because Pars finished fifth in last year's Olympics and Karjalainen was not able to qualify for the final in Athens. Finland also took the wins in Long Jump (Tommi Evilä 7.90m) and Shot Put (Ville Tiisanoja 20.13m).
Tight second day
Although Finland is leading, Sweden will still be favourites to take the place in the Super League and win the competition during day two. The win will be decided between Finland and Sweden, the statistics show clearly that the others will be left further behind during the second day.
Sweden on top in women's competition
To the absolute delight of the loud home crowd, Sweden is surprisingly leading the women's competition after day one having totalled 71 points with favourites Spain in second place with 69 points. Czech Republic is third with 56 and Finland fourth at 51 points, which shows that Sweden and Spain will be the only countries left for the winning battle during the second day.
Delight for Sweden
Day one was a good success for Sweden, but Spain will be disappointed with their second place at this stage. Sweden only won two events, 400m by Lena Aruhn and the sprint relay, but overall their performance was very good including six second places. Charlotte Schönbeck's last place finish in the 800m was probably the only negative point of their day, but there were many positive ones. Lena Aruhn took a stylish win in the 400m with a season's best of 52.40s followed closely by Kirsi Mykkänen (FIN), also with a season's best 52.64 for the second place. 35-year-old veteran Aruhn then anchored the 4x100m relay team to the win (44.09s) showing absolutely perfect example for her younger team members.
Hamackova over 4.50m
There were a few top performances as well, 2001 World Indoor champion Pavla Hamackova is coming towards her best marks (NR 4.60m in 2003). Hamackova bettered her season's best in Gävle winning the competition with a 4.50m clearance before Kristen Belin (SWE), who was second at 4.30m. Other good winning marks included Livia Toth's (HUN) 3000m Steeplechase at 9:39.97, Vera Cechlova's (CZE) Discus Throw at 61.23m and Mercedes Chilla's (ESP) season's best Javelin Throw of 60.22m.
Spain still going for the win
The statistics still show that Spain should finish the competition as winners after day two, their margin in the statistics is much bigger than the Swedish lead of two points after day one, but if they suffer any more big disappointments like the one in the pole vault by Dana Cervantes, they will be in trouble. Cervantes entered the competition as one of the favourites having jumped 4.21m indoors this season, but was left to seventh place with only a 3.80m result.
Mirko Jalava for the IAAF
Editor's note - we apologise for the exceptionally late posting of this report which is due to the crash of the original correspondent's computer yesterday. We thank Mirko Jalava for standing in as a replacement.
Men’s standing after day 1
1) Finland 59
2) Hungary 53
3) Sweden 51
4) Switzerland 51
5) Slovenia 40
6) Estonia 39
7) Croatia 38
8) Slovak Republic 31
Women’s standing after day 1
1) Sweden 71
2) Spain 69
3) Czech Republic 56
4) Finland 51
1) Hungary 45.5
6) Slovenia 42
7) Norway 35
2) Croatia 26.5
