Tero Pitkamaki airborne in Lapinlahti (© Paula Noronen)
Tero Pitkämäki returned to action in Lapinlahti today for the first time since the unfortunate incident at last weekend’s Golden Gala in Rome where long jumper Salim Sdiri of France was injured when hit by Pitkämäki’s javelin. Pitkämäki unleashed a massive 91.23m throw in the third round of the Lapinlahti Elite Games competition and proved that he had been able to focus on his event after the accident.
"What happened in Rome was just a weird sum of unfortunate coincidences," Pitkämäki said. "I came to Lapinlahti with a strong will to prove that it did not effect on mind or my throwing. Today I really wanted to throw far."
Pitkämäki’s throw is the third longest of his career, and also the second longest in the world this year, only 6 cm shy of American Breaux Greer’s world leading 91.29m.
"I have had an average start for the season, but based on my training I knew that the big one was coming," Pitkämäki said. "Considering today’s conditions I am really satisfied with my result, since it was pretty hot day and I did not get any help from the wind."
Koski-Vähälä and Ruuskanen over 80m
Pitkämäki had to fight seriously to beat compatriots Jarkko Koski-Vähälä and Antti Ruuskanen, who once again pulled together a great competition and showed that Finland really is a javelin country.
Ruuskanen, European U23 silver medallist in 2005 and an 84.10m thrower last year, opened the competition with his season’s best of 80.78m. He seemed to be well recovered from a minor knee operation in May.
"This was just my second competition in this season and I feel like I am getting stronger day by day. I did not mind about the other guys but just kept on concentrating on my own throw," said Ruuskanen, who found himself in third place after the last round.
An even tougher challenge for Pitkämäki was thrown by Jarkko Koski-Vähälä, who led the competition until the end of third round. Koski-Vähälä’s first throw of 84.02m is his season’s best and second longest throw of his career.
Koski-Vähälä, 28, has never participated in major international championships, but now aims to be the third Finn to compete in the IAAF World Championships in Osaka.
"Tero and Teemu (Wirkkala) have already secured their tickets to Osaka, and I am naturally more than eager to join those guys," said Koski-Vähälä, who is coached by former javelin World champion Kimmo Kinnunen. “During the winter I progressed well in strength and other abilities, but at the beginning of the season I had some difficulties with my technique. So I decided to put all my focus on improving my technique in training, and now it seems to pay off."
The hot Finnish javelin summer continues next Wednesday in Lahti, where Koski-Vähälä will meet most of the other candidates for the last place to Osaka. Tero Pitkämäki’s next competition is two weeks away since he plans to have his next competition at the national championships in Lappeenranta.
"I will train hard, mainly twice per day until Lappeenranta, and start to ease my training after that," Pitkämäki said. “Between the national championships and Osaka I will only throw in Kuortane Elite Games, where I expect to meet some of my toughest foreign rivals. I feel very confident now and I know that in good conditions I am able to threaten Aki Parviainen’s national record of 93.09m."
Manninen’s comeback continues
Besides men’s javelin no top results were achieved in Lapinlahti. The audience of 4000 spectators had arrived to the cozy stadium of a tiny eastern village to see the famous foreigners such as Bernard Williams, Monique Hennagan and Ionela Tirlea-Manolache. Williams accelerated to victory in men’s 100m but was able to time only 10.47 against a medium headwind. Monique Hennagan won the 400m flat with 51.94 and Tirlea-Manolache secured first place in 400m Hurdles with 56.66.
Besides Pitkämäki, the home crowd gave the greatest applause to sprinter Johanna Manninen, once European junior champion and semi-finalist in Edmonton 2001, who has made a strong comeback this season after and Achilles tendon injury two years ago. Manninen has already timed 11.27 in the 100m this year, and in Lapinlahti she won the 200m with a decent 23.40, beating Tirlea-Manolache by 0.13 seconds.
"Due to my injury I have not been able to run curves at all for nearly two years," Manninen said. “As my 100m shows, my speed is back and I see no reason why I could not improve my 200m time near to my personal best (22.93 in 2001). I definitely look forward to come back to the international scene at the Universiade and World Championships this year."
In the men’s High Jump Osku Torro equalled his outdoor PB of 2.25m and took victory in front of world and European championship finalist Oskari Frösen who cleared 2.22.
Mika Noronen for the IAAF
