Topias Laine threw the youth European Championship silver after two years of difficulties – Janne Läspä lost the bronze medal by four cents

Ukraine’s Artur Felfner was in a wild mood in the under-23 javelin final in Espoo. He grabbed the EC gold ahead of defending champion Topias Laine with a result of 83.04.

In the javelin throw, the under-23 European Championship gold champion Topias Laine took silver in the Espoo javelin final with a score of 79.77.

The result of the third round is only ten centimeters short of Laine’s, 22, season’s best.

– This competition has been long awaited. I am moderately satisfied, although of course I would have liked the championship in front of the home crowd. Yes, I am very happy at the moment, Laine said.

Ukrainian Artur Felfner was in his own class in the race with a winning result of 83.04, which was created in the last round, when the victory was already secured. The 19-year-old top prospect threw more than 82 meters three times in the race.

Laine expected a throw of more than 80 meters from himself.

– It feels a bit like the result is still in the pipeline. The winner’s result was one that would have required a really good success, so that I would have been able to grab the gold, I believe that the spike is coming. Today could have been the place, because the body felt that way. Technology did not quite agree. The record will come this season, Laine promised.

Two years ago, Laine threw the under-23 European Championship gold in Tallinn with a record of 81.67. The result is still the best result of the Helsinki athlete’s career.

– From the European Championships a couple of years ago, the difficulties with the side problems started. Since then, I have tried to get back into race condition. Now we are back to the prize competition medals. It feels really great that after a couple of years of fighting I have reached this point, Laine said with relief.

Laine, representing HKV, has achieved a total of four youth competition medals. He won the first one in 2018, when he got bronze from the 17-year-old European Championships. In the same year, he won the Youth Olympic gold.

Just out of the medal places

Another Finnish medal was very close in the javelin final, but Janne Läspän the bronze yacht was caught by cents. Läspä finally improved to 77.19. He was only four centimeters away from Italy Michele Finan from the bronze result.

Läspä said after the race that his season will probably end here. He threw in Espoo with a sore knee and has also suffered from a shoulder injury.

– In a harsh way, it can be seen that there is no training or competitions below. In the warm-up, I threw one good throw, but that was it, Läspä said.

Aleksi Yli-Mannila was sixth in the final with a result of 75.59.