The representation of one man in the final competition of the prestigious championships has not been an exception in Finnish javelin throwing for a long time, writes Pekka Holopainen.
Pekka Holopainen Sports journalist
In 2017, there were two things that were surprising in the Finnish javelin throw. Only one male javelin thrower slipped through the selection screen for the World Championships in London. The last time Finland had sent an equally modest team to the prestigious event of the traditional sport was no less than 57 years earlier. Tero Pitkämäki after all, he carried the torch like a man and finished 5th with so-called old gasoline in his last races.
Already half a year earlier Antti Ruuskanen was awarded at the ski stadium in Lahti in the middle of the World Championships for the events five years ago at the same Olympic stadium in London. Kilpaveikko’s doping cart turned Ruuskanen’s Olympic bronze into silver, and the grand ceremonies were held in the mecca of Finnish skiing.
If anything has been considered automation in Finnish athletics, it has been the full value competition in the men’s javelin throw, and usually even in the final stages of the competition. For example, in the Olympic final in London in question, Pitkämäki came fourth in Ruuskanen’s wake after all stages, and after three laps he left the place Ari Mannion too ranking improved a notch.
From the World Cup qualification in Budapest, he just scraped through to the next round Oliver Helander, which suddenly could be considered a unique disaster. In fact, in the previous four World Cups, Finland has been represented in the final by only one man: in London 2017, Doha 2019 and now in Budapest 2023. This is a completely normal situation.
Even in the Olympic Games, there was only one representative in the final stage of the competition in both Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2021.
Cycle-sensitive activity
Top sport is a cyclical and cyclical activity, but Finland’s traditional sport is threatened by lean years from this point of view as well. In his value racing career that started in 2014, he failed to qualify for the first time Lassi at Etelätalo will be 36 years old by the time of next year’s honors, and the man’s health history alone would give a penman a biography. The view does not stop the dizzying, as fine and many-struck athlete as it is.
Thirty Toni Kuuselaanother Wednesday qualifier, doesn’t exactly finish second from this point of view, and the development curve in recent seasons hasn’t quite reached the northeast either.
The only answer to the emergency call is Helander, whose health background and the level of throwing behind it are very well documented.
At the same time, there have been reports of a heavy loss of boy throwers up to the junior championships. Of course, there are still super talented boys, but some are still at such an age that it is not necessary to mention their names in the national media.
Big thrower Aki Parviainen 16-year-old, fabulously talented nephew Top Parviainen hasn’t raced once all season, but it’s not about quitting, it’s about a health-related precaution that will hopefully prove to be wise.
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