News12 Jun 2011


The Finnish Elite Games series gets off to a thundery start in Tampere

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Godfrey Khotso Mokoena of RSA in action in the Long Jump final (© Getty Images)

The Finnish Federation’s annual Elite Games Series got off to a tricky windy start in some difficult thundery weather conditions in Tampere on Sunday (12), with South Africa’s World and Olympic Long Jump medallist Khotso Mokoena and the Bahamas’ 2007 World High Jump champion Donald Thomas the top international names on the card.


The field events suffered from difficult wind, but helped the sprinters.


In the 400m Hurdles, which got the meeting underway South Africa’s Cornel Fredricks took an easy first place in 49.20sec enough to leave Great Britain´s Nathan Woodward in second place 0.60 seconds behind.


The local highlight of the day was Jonathan Åstrand’s personal best 10.26sec in the 100 metres heats. It is the 3rd best ever time run by a Finn, but unfortunately Åstrand got a false start in the final and was disqualified. The track was therefore left open for Hannu Hämäläinen who clocked 10.29 in the final (he also ran 10.26 his best time ever but wind assisted (+2.4) in the heats) but it was a windy +2.3.


"It doesn’t matter (about the DQ), because my time in the heats was so good. Let’s see which one us will be the fastest man in Finland this year," said Åstrand. Both Åstrand and Hämäläinen were training in Tenerife from the late November till early May and only had some indoor competitions in Finland on February. Both went into the semi-finals at the European Indoor 60m in Paris.


"A long training camp was the key for me to reach this shape. Of course it would have been very interesting to run against Jonathan in the final, but there will be lots of races during the summer", said Hämäläinen.


Another promising sprinting event from the Finnish point of view was the women’s 100m Hurdles. It was won by Noralotta Neziri, the European Youth Olympic Festival winner at the same Ratina Stadium in 2009. Neziri clocked her pb 13.43 - and so did Elisa Leinonen 13.53 and Giia Lindström 13.54.


More personal best in the Women’s 200m, where 17-year-old Ella Räsänen set 23.91. She will probably be seen at the World Youth Championships in Lille, but in the 400m, which is her main event.


Mokoena 7.78m; Kamal beats Keskisalo


The wind meant that the men’s Long Jump was far away from what it had been expected to be. A sunny and very warm (+28) day turned into windy one, with thunder weather and caused lots of problems to the jumpers.


Khotso Mokoena of South Africa leapt his winning mark 7.78 in the final round into a head wind of 1.8 m/s. Mokoena has been in a very solid over 8-metres shape in this season, but didn´t have any realistic chances to fly close to his Arena record of 8.20m (2008). Sweden’s Michel Torneus set 7.69m in the third round. Finland’s Tommi Evilä opened his outdoor season with a 7.59m jump in the sixth, and South Africa’s Luvo Manyonga was fourth with 7.33.


"Very interesting conditions. It was nice to win here in Tampere, where I´ve always been feeling good, but results mean more to me. There’s lot to do on the road to the Daegu," said Mokoena.


In the men’s 3000m Steeplechase, Jukka Keskisalo, the 2006 European Champion was running his first steeple of the year. He placed 2nd as the best Finn aheas of Janne Ukonmaanaho, but his time 8:41.50 was a disappointment for him. Keskisalo sustained a bone injury in his foot in February and started his high altitude training camp in the Flagstaff, USA, some weeks later than planned.


"Running makes me work hard right now. Well, this is not a picture for the whole summer", the 2009 World Championship finalist said.


Qatar’s Ali Abubaker Kamal, the Olympic and World finalist escaped from Keskisalo in the second kilometre and clocked 8:34.26 for the victory.


In Finland’s parade event, the Javelin Throw, Ukraine’s Oleksandr Pyatnitsya surprised the locals with a 79.79m throw in the third  round. Ari Mannio set only 77.52m for second place and Tero Järvenpää, 2008 Olympic 4th placer was fourth here too but with a lowly 74.75m.


Tuomas Seppänen’s 74.84m in the men’s Hammer Throw and Tanja Komulainen’s 57.10m in the Women’s Discus Throw, both victories were also their PBs.


And Donald Thomas won the High Jump from Finland’s Osku Torro thanks to a first time clearance at 2.23 to the Finn’s second time success at the same height.


A-P Sonninen for the IAAF


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