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Finnish pole vaulter Urho Kujanpää won the gold medal at the Universiade in Chengdu, China on Saturday. Kujanpää’s victory was secured when he exceeded the height of 555 with his second jump.
Thailand jumped to silver Patsapong Amsamarng exceeded 555 on his third attempt, which turned the race into a win for the Finn. The Netherlands jumped to the bronze Koen Van Der Wijst with a result of 545.
Universiade medals are a rare treat for Finns. The last success came four years ago in Naples, Italy, when Miia Sillman took gold in the heptathlon, Reetta Hurske silver in the 100m hurdles and Joonas Rinne bronze at 1,500 meters.
– Now I feel empty, and I can’t immediately understand the meaning of this victory. I’ve never been in a value competition with medals and only once in the finals, so this was a new situation. I didn’t want to put pressure on myself in the final, I just went to finish and enjoy a little, Kujanpää told about his mood In the bulletin of the Finnish Sports Association.
Kujanpää, 26, who represents Pyrintö in Tampere, has also been selected for the Budapest World Championships starting in a couple of weeks. His record in the hall is 566 jumped two years ago, and the best result of the season so far is 560.
Kujanpää hoped that the race would bring self-confidence for the upcoming World Championships, as the past season has been difficult for him. One of the reasons has been a change of coach, when Raimo Eskola had to give up coaching due to his illness. A new coach Rauli Pudasen cooperation with works, but the long distance imposes certain restrictions when Kujanpää lives in Tampere and the coach lives in Helsinki.
Competing in hot and humid weather was a new experience for Kujanpää.
– I have never competed in such weather before. I tried to keep myself cool with ice and cold towels and I succeeded.
Tarja Leveelahti was sixth in the women’s discus competition with a result of 57.07. Germany won the puck Antonia Kinzel with a result of 59.18.
Kiira Väänänen finished seventh in the women’s floor with a result of 61.82. The women’s shot put final ended with a double victory for China, when gold was thrown Jiangyan Li with a result of 71.20 and silver Xinying Xu with a result of 69.45.
In the women’s triple jump Jessica Kähärä was tenth with a result of 13.05. In the competition, the first two jumpers cleared 14 meters, while Turkin jumped the gold Tugba Danismaz with a result of 14.31 and silver to Lithuania Diana Zagainova14.02.
Kähärä, who jumped to the European Youth Championship bronze in Espoo, stated that his ankle cannot handle proper jumping at the moment.
– In such great competitions, I would of course hope to do better. But I couldn’t really handle it anyway, when it has been a tight competition all summer long, Kähärä, who jumped his record 13.87 in Kuortane in June, summed it up.
Pig women made history
The Finnish women’s basketball team beat Taiwan 56–49 in the bronze medal game of the Games. The medal is the first ball medal for Finland in the history of the Summer Universiade, and the first in the history of Finnish basketball in any competition.
Finland took Sara Bejedin with a three-point throw, three points for a safe-feeling 56–42 lead before the end of the final quarter. Taiwan narrowed, but Finland’s lead lasted until the end.
– Feeling extremely happy for these young athletes. They have been training and doing a huge amount of work for these two weeks, head coach Ilkka Palviainen atmosphere in the announcement of the Basketball Association.
In the bronze match, the team’s highest score was collected by the player who threw 12 points Teresa Seppäläwho received fire support from the 11/12 double double Pearl from Tulos.
Finland beat Brazil and Romania in its initial group. Poland fell in the semifinals, but Japan was better in the semifinals. In the final match, China beat Japan 99–91.
Finland’s men also won their group ahead of South Korea and Azerbaijan. The Czech Republic narrowly beat Finland 68–66 in the quarterfinals. Finland’s men will play for fifth place against Romania tomorrow.
Which universiads?
The Universiades and the students’ World Cup competitions are international prestigious competitions for top athletes studying in universities, the rights to organize them are granted by the international student sports federation Fisu (International University Sports Federation).
The Universiade is a multi-sport event that takes place every two years separately in winter and summer sports. In the intervening years of the Universiade, students compete for World Cup medals in sports that are not permanently part of the Universiade program.
Athletes who are 18‒25 years old at the end of the competition year can participate in the Universiade and the student World Cup competitions at a higher level, i.e. those who study at universities or universities of applied sciences or who graduated in the calendar year preceding the games at the earliest.
The Summer Universiade has been contested since 1959 and the Winter Universiade since 1960.
The 2023 Summer Games were supposed to be held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, but they were moved after Russia attacked Ukraine. The Universiade was supposed to be held in Chengdu in the summer of 2021, but it was canceled due to the corona virus. So this summer’s games were moved from Russia to a Chinese city.
Before the Chengdu Games, Finnish athletes had won 44 medals at the Summer Universiade: 14 gold, 15 silver and 15 bronze. The medals for Kujanpää and the useful ones were Finland’s first from Chengdu.
The entire Finnish team in Chengdu has 52 athletes and national basketball teams. Finns’ sports have been or are shooting, archery, judo, basketball, fencing, rhythmic gymnastics, taekwondo, balance beam gymnastics, diving, swimming and athletics.
Before today, the best Finnish food had been Jaakko Paavolainen sixth place in light fencing and Saara Keskitalon sixth place in the 100-meter hurdles.