Koji Murofushi throwing in Kobe (© Agence SHOT)
Japan’s Olympic Hammer Throw champion Koji Murofushi is undertaking a short Finnish campaign in the next week.
The first stop for the 31-year-old Asian record holder’s mini-tour will be at this weekend’s at the Finnish championships in Jyväskylä, where he will compete as a guest. The city is situated in the Finnish lake district and is best known internationally as the headquarters for the “Thousand Lakes Rally’, the annual Finnish leg of FIA World Rally Championship.
Returning from injury this season, Murofushi, after three starts this summer has a best of 80.17m (1 July), and will be hoping to get his season motoring in Finland where he will face Olli-Pekka Karjalainen, 26, the country’s record holder (83.30 – 14 July 2004), who with 79.59m as his best mark in 2006, will be searching for top gear ahead of next month’s European Championships in Gothenburg.
Murofushi whose personal best stands at 84.86m (2003) will then travel to the Finnish capital to compete in Helsinki’s Olympic stadium on Wednesday 26 July at the GE Money Helsinki Grand Prix, which is the Finnish stop on the IAAF World Athletics Tour 2006.
Again the Japanese’s principal rival will be Karjalainen, the World Athletics Final winner of 2004, who has not yet quite met the high expectations of a Finnish public impatient to see a World Junior champion and record holder finally clinch a major senior championship title.
The men’s Shot Put should be another high class field event in the Olympic stadium next Tuesday, with the top-five in the world’s season list all competing –
1) Christian Cantwell USA 22.45,
2) Adam Nelson USA 22.04,
3) Reese Hoffa USA 21.96,
4) Rutger Smith NED 21.62
5) Dan Taylor USA 21.59.
Chris Turner for the IAAF
