Ville Tiisanoja (FIN) Tampere Shot winner (© Sonninen)
Tampere, FinlandAt the third of the six meet series which makes up the Finnish Federation’s annual Elite Series of competitions, which was held here yesterday, the women’s Hammer and men’s Shot brought the best results. The chilly (16c) and windy conditions had a dramatic affect on many performances.
Pöyry set for national record?
Finland’s Sini Pöyry, who has four international championship silver medals at junior and U23 level, won the Hammer with 68.34 - her second best ever throw. Pöyry also produced 67.18, 67.26 and 67.22.
“I feel I can set a new Finnish Record, but it was not time for it yet. I am not nervous about speaking about a 70-metre throw despite that people have been waiting for it since I threw my PB of 69.16 last week,” said Pöyry smiling.
Once again Merja Korpela, the bronze medallist at the European Juniors in 1999, improved her personal best, which now stands at 66.41, which is 12cm more than in Kaustinen last Thursday when she also finished behind Pöyry.
Korpela is now Finnish number two, as sadly yesterday, the Finnish record holder (69.63 - 2001) holder Mia Strömmer announced her retirement.
The reason for Strömmer´s surprising decision is her asthma, as she has not been able to train hard enough this season, and she does not want to make results of less than 65 metres.
“Mia’s announcement surprised me as well, but luckily Merja is a good challenger now. I feel sorry for Mia, but I'll try my best to break her record as soon as possible,” said Pöyry.
Tiisanoja is looking for 21m
Ville Tiisanoja also showed in Tampere´s cold weather that he really is in a very stable condition in the men’s Shot. Tiisanoja series was 20.04, 20.36, 20.18, 20.54, 19.91, 20.45.
“I felt a slight cramp in my left calf, but I guess it is not serious. This is not my best series ever; if I remember right, I put six times over 20m in Lappeenranta in 2001,” said Tiisanoja.
“My goal before Athens is to get a good 21-metre one. This summer has been very rainy and cold in Finland, but I have not let it disturb me so much. I can go to an indoor hall in Helsinki whenever I want to train hard," said Tiisanoja who has a PB of 21.09 (2002).
Tepa Reinikainen, who like Tiisanoja was a top 8 finisher in the 2003 World Championships final, took second place yesterday with two good results: 20.02 and 20.24 but was not satisfied at all.
“My techique does not work well at the moment. I hope I can compete in the Madrid Super-GP on July 17, because it would be important to get in an international meeting before the Olympics,” confirmed Reinikainen.
Tiisanoja is already sure on the Finnish team for Athens, because he won the first trial in Kyröskoski last Saturday. Only he and Reinikainen (20.30) have cleared the A-entry standard this season. If no else can make it at the Finnish Championships in Vaasa (30 July - 1 August) or before, Reinikainen will be selected, too - no matter how he places in Vaasa.
Strong head wind for sprints
Saudis took both the men’s 100 and 400 metres. In the dash Yahya Saed ran 10.30 into a -1.3 m/s wind. His compatriot Salem Al Yami placed next with 10.37, while Hamdan Al Bishi won the 400m by a huge margin: 45.89 to the 47.14 of South-Africa’s Henry Mogkanyetsi in second.
Another South African Morne Nagel ran the 200m in 20.88 seconds (wind -1,0 m/s). Silas Sang of Kenya won the 5000m practically alone and clocked 13:37.07.
The women’s 100m Hurdles was won by Jamaican Suzanne Dickenson in 13.55, while Finland’s Johanna Manninen took the flat dash in 11.52 (-1.7m/s), though in her heat she ran 11.31 (+2.3m/s). Manninen, the European Junior champion at 100m in 1997 and U23 200m in 2001, has suffered from some asthmatic problems this summer, but she is more optimistic now.
European Triple Jumper silver medallist Heli Koivula-Kruger jumped 6.56 (+2.9) in the final round to win the women's Long Jump.
