Hanna Mikkonen after setting a new Finnish women’s High Jump record of 1.92. (© Noronen)
Tampere, FinlandSome very promising field event results highlighted the second of the annual Finnish Elite Games series meets which took place on Sunday (12/06).
The most expected quality came in the results of the men’s Javelin which was won by Olympic finalist Tero Pitkämäki with 83.26m, ahead of former World champion Aki Parviainen (81.56).
Coaching link
Yet despite the Finnish love for everything to do with spear throwing the most emotional moment of the meeting was when Hanna Mikkonen set a new Finnish women’s High Jump record of 1.92.
While it is hardly a mark which will worry the top world elite, the significance was that 23 year-old Mikkonen broke the record which Minna Vehmasto had set almost 22 years ago! She took the height at the first attempt and produced one quite close jump at 1.95m too. There is a certain link between Vehmasto and Mikkonen: both of them are coached by Matti Mettala.
Mikkonen lost almost the whole outdoor season 2004 due to an back injury, but performed so well in her springtime training camps, that 1.92 was not a surprise.
"I got a big burst of self-confidence a week ago in Turku by clearing 1.88 in cold (+6 C) and rain. My record jump was technically perfect, and I believe I can fly some centimetres higher this summer", said Mikkonen.
The weather conditions were remarkably better in Tampere than in the first Elite Games meet in Turku: 20 degrees and sunny. A real summer is just what Finns need now, less than two months before the IAAF World Championships in Helsinki.
Impressive series for Pitkämäki
Pitkämäki threw an impressive series of 82.04 - 82.84 - 81.11 - 83.11 - 83.26 - 83.16 and was very satisfied with his seasomn's best. Pitkämäki threw 83.19 in Ostrava last Thursday and is on his way to his aim of 87.50m this summer.
“A very solid series despite that I was a bit tired after Ostrava. I have never been in such a good form so early in the season!” smiled Pitkämäki, who was 8th in the Olympics last year.
Parviainen produced only one good throw and admitted that he has lot of work to do with his technique.
"I am not worried at all; I just need more competitions. Besides, we did not get any help from the wind today", confirmed Parviainen.
Hungarian win in the Hammer
Hungary´s Krisztian Pars won the Hammer with 77.66m. Finland’s Olli-Pekka Karjalainen, the 2004 World Athletics Final winner could not compete because of bronchitis, but will likely be able to come back for European Cup in Gävle, Sweden, next weekend.
Evilä’s 8.03m beats Lukasevich
Finland’s Tommi Evilä, fourth in the European Indoor Championships this year, in his home stadium showed once again that he is a very tough fighter in the men’s Long Jump.
Ukraine´s European Champion Aleksey Lukashevich took the lead in the 4th round with 7.83, but Evilä passed him in the 5th with 8.01, but the wind helped him with 2.1 m/s. The Ukrainian did not find any answer to that, but even so Evilä leapt to 8.03 on his last attempt to set a new Tampere Stadium record (wind +1.4 m/s).
“I just ran and could not make proper jumps. As soon as I get my run-up working better, you’ll see something special", promised Evilä, 25.
Evilä, a lively, sometimes volatile character, is one of the most colourful figures in present day Finnish athletics. He set his PB of 8.15 last year and is expected to break the Finnish record of 8.16m which is held jointly by Rainer Stenius (set in 1966) and Jarmo Kärnä (equalled in 1989).
In the women’s Long Jump, Russian-born Natalia Kilpeläinen was very happy with her performance except that she missed the ‘B’ entry standard for Helsinki by just two cm when winning in 6.58m. Kilpeläinen improved her PB by 9 centimetres and said she believes she can compete in Helsinki in the Triple Jump as well.
After the recent retirement of European silver medallist Heli Koivula-Kruger, Kilpeläinen is a very strong candidate for making her outdoor debut at international championships for Finland at the age of 35.
On the track Kirsi Mykkänen won women’s 400 m flat in 52.97 seconds.
Antti-Pekka Sonninen for the IAAF
