Laihia’s Juho Alasaari, 19,’s medal streak continued in the under-23 European Championships in Espoo. The man of the big games has previously won two silver medals at the under-20 World Championships.
Emma Hyuppa,
Petra Manner
Juho Alasaari has won the under-23 European pole vault championship in Espoo. 19-year-old Alasaari crossed the winning height of 571 in his first.
Alasaari’s championship was secured when Norway’s Pål Haugen to Lillefoss and France Robin Emig each dropped once from 571 and twice from 576.
Alasaari improved his record twice in the competition, first to 566 and immediately after to 571. 571 is a new Finnish record for under-23s.
– All I thought about it was that now we are going to make a big jump. Whenever the bar is at a record high, it’s already a plus. It was really nice to cross that today, Alasaari said with a smile.
The highest result of Alasaari’s career before the Espoo EC final was 560, which means he improved his record by no less than 11 cents. What does such a big record improvement require?
– Steady work. Good training and staying intact, so there has been a basis for improvement, Mikko Latvala coached by Alasaari lit.
Only among the current jumpers in Finland Mikko Paavola has reached the same readings. Alasaari and Paavola, 25, share sixth place in Finland’s all-time statistics. Finland’s record is Jani Lehtonen 582 of 1993.
Alasaari’s best of the season before the European Championship final was 555. He was among the European Championship finalists in the sixth place in the comparison of both records and the best of this season, so the championship can be considered a kind of surprise.
Norway’s Lillefosse went into the competition as a clear early favorite, as his record is 586. He has already been successful in adult competitions as well: last summer, he achieved bronze in the European Championship finals in Munich with a result of 575. Emig from France was also ahead of Alasaar in the preliminary statistics with his record of 571.
– This is quite a special situation. We didn’t come here as number one to challenge, Alasaari said.
The youth competition medal is the third in Alasaari’s career, representing Laihia Luja. He won silver in two consecutive under-20 World Championships in Nairobi 2021 and Cali 2022. Now the medal streak continued in Alasaari’s first season in the under-23 series. Due to his age, Alasaari can defend his championship in two years, when the European Championships for under-23s are organized next time.
One sea route is unexpectedly missing from Alasaari. He has not yet reached the medals in the Kaleva Games. He has bronze and gold from Hall.
Would it be time to take the first outdoor track championship medal in two weeks in Lahti?
– I don’t know now. Let’s watch it then. This is not that serious! Alasaari said with a smile in his ears and burst into laughter.