Swede Oscar Käck battles with Finn Matti Räsänen in the 5000m (© DECA Text&Bild)
The hosts Finland beat Sweden 214 to 195 points in the Men’s match at the classic annual dual meet on Friday (27) – Saturday (28) in Helsinki's Olympic Stadium, but Sweden as expected was better in the women’s competition by an even larger margin 226 to 182 pts.
But there was a lot for the locals to celebrate as in the two other matches, the boy’s and girl’s, Finland also took substantial victories: 106 to 88 points and 119 to 82 pts.
And what a lot of locals there were in this stadium which has hosted the 1952 Olympics, 1983 & 2005 World Championships and 1971 & 1994 European Championships, and will also hold the continental championships in 2012. A combined two-day crowd of over 54,000 (Fri 24,864; Sat 29,738) watched this match which is truly one of the classics of our sport, an Athletics heaven, who ever wins.
The home team got off to a very strong start on Friday in the Men’s Hammer Throw as 2006 European silver medallist Olli-Pekka Karjalainen produced 76.44m, David Söderberg 75.63 and Tuomas Seppänen 74.11 and so dominated with maximum points.
"This season has not been very good for me, but this kind of result gives self confidence for the future. My legs were moving quite well today, and I think, I’ll have a couple of competitions more in this season: in Italy and France," said Karjalainen.
One of the Finnish heroes on a chilly Friday night was Matti Räsänen, who won the sprinting battle in the 5000m. Räsänen opened the kick in some 200 metres to go, but Swede Oscar Käck gave him a hard challenge. Räsänen beat him by 0.15 seconds.
Räsänen told a story which is not very usual for any international athlete these days: "I took part in bear hunting last weekend. I did not shoot the bear, but we got it quite close to the centre of my home town Joensuu. If people knew, how many bears there are there, they would rather stay home than go to the forest," said Räsänen.
Finn Jonathan Åstrand ran 10.46sec in the 100m - only 0.01 from his PB, and helped Finland win the 4x100m relay, too, in 39.62.
Also Sweden had its moment in the field events. Michel Torneus leapt 7.95m as his winning result in the Long Jump, but the best Finn was Roni Ollikainen on his 20th birthday. Ollikainen set his PB 7.81 and left the Finnish Team Captain Tommi Evilä in 3rd place in 7.79.
Busy Javelin trio takes it all
On Saturday there was no question about the leading country in the Javelin, although Tero Pitkämäki, Ari Mannio and Teemu Wirkkala had arrived from the Brussels Samsumg Diamond League meeting only four hours before the competition started.
2007 World champion Pitkämäki threw only twice: 84.04m and 83.05 and was satisfied: "Considering the timetable, the result was OK. During the next weeks I must think well what to do with my training. I want to come back over the 90 metre-line, but it will take some kind of changes," said Pitkämäki.
Mannio produced 83.48m in the third and Wirkkala 80.58 in the second round.
Discus Throw Olympic bronze medallist in 2000, Frantz Kruger said goodbye ending his career with the second place in his last Sweden match. Kruger threw 59.58m, but Sweden's Niklas Arrhenius was better: 62.26 in the 5th round. On Friday Arrhenius had won the Shot Put.
"I’m very glad that I have been thrown for Finland during these four years, but it’s over now. I’ll always be a Finnish lion from Africa", said South-African born Kruger who is married to Finland's 2002 European Triple Jump silver medallist Heli Koivula.
Mohamed supreme
Sweden’s Mustafa Mohamed kept the pace in the Men’s 3000m Steeplechase during the whole race and clocked 8:34.99, but in the absence of Finland’s 2006 European champion Jukka Keskisalo (his back was operated on last week for a stress fracture) the Finns relied on Janne Ukonmaanaho who ran his 2nd best time ever, 8:36.74 for second place.
"I’ve been running the Steeplechase for so many years that I think now it’s a right time to change my training a bit. I'd like to try longer events - maybe even the Marathon. Against Finland I can well run the Steeplechase, too, but not at the international championships,", said Mohamed.
Finland’s Jonathan Åstrand won the 200m completing a hatrick of sprint victories (100, 200, relay), but in the 10,000m Oscar Käck got his revenge over Matti Räsänen in a hard finishing spurt by 0.51 seconds.
Utriainen fulfills her Javelin season
One of the happiest athletes on Friday was Finland’s Sanni Utriainen, the women’s World Junior champion in the Javelin Throw. She set her new PB of 57.26 in the 5th round and won the competition - her first Sweden-match.
"I felt wonderful to throw at the big stadium with so many people watching the competition. It was not a perfect throw, but a very good one, anyway," said Utriainen, whose season has been almost perfect.
In the Pole Vault, 2007 European Junior champion Minna Nikkanen raised the bar to the Finnish record height of 4.47, and her third attempt was very good but not enough. Nikkanen’s winning mark was 4.35.
"In any other competition I would have stopped after the warm-up, because I felt tightness in my calf," said Nikkanen summing up the passion and 'do or die' spirit which surrounds this annual match.
17th victory for Söderberg
Sweden's Anna Söderberg won the Discus Throw with her 3rd round mark 58.85 and won in her 17th "Finnkampen"!
"I don’t know yet, if this was my last one. I’ll have to think about it a bit later", said Söderberg.
Sweden was much better on the track. Carolina Klüft lead the Swedes to a clean sweap in the women’s 100m in 11.60 seconds, and three-time Stockholm Marathon winner Isabellah Andersson did the same in the 10,000m when clocking 33:54.50.
"I’ll have some road and cross country races before the Frankfurt marathon during the next weeks. Then I’ll fly to Africa and start to train for the next season," planned Andersson.
On the second day Finland took some unexpected points from the 5000 as Minna Nummela placed 2nd, but Charlotte Schönbeck in the yellow colours of Sweden was too strong for the blue & white team in the 800m. Schönbäck has suffered from several injuries in her career, but now it looks like she’s ready to run a sub-2 minutes.
Klüft takes second victory
Carolina Klüft became a double winner as she leapt 6.34m in the Long Jump. Klüft is already focusing into the next year:
"At last I’m injury free and waiting eagerly for a new training season start. I don’t know, if I’ll compete indoors next winter, because I want to be in shape at the World Championships in Daegu", said Klüft.
Antti-Pekka Sonninen for the IAAF
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