An 18-year-old has become the most talked about Finnish athlete for the rest of the athletics season that is ending Tomas Järvinenwhose desk drawer contains the travel documents of both his mother’s and father’s home countries, the Czech Republic and Finland.
Last weekend, Järvinen, representing the Czech Republic, won the 19-year-old 10-match World Cup gold in Peru with a top score of 8,425. The result was only 10 points behind the German Niklas Kaulin From the ME series. The Lima stadium also left room for speculation for the athlete.
Järvinen’s top performance in the second sport of the match, i.e. the long jump, came to a screeching halt when the officials noticed that his elbow touched the sand before the actual landing point. Järvinen and his entourage did not buy the highly controversial solution out of hand.
– I did make my point of view clear to the trustees. It took maybe 40 points, which is a world record, Tomas Järvinen commented to Urheilui on Wednesday from his home in Prague.
Last year of high school
The junior star, who is recovering from a long time gap, starts his last year of high school, which in the middle of the beginning of 2025 will also start receiving compensation for his sports from the great club Dukla Praha.
He lives with his mother, a former 7 contestant, in the center of Prague. To his father, a well-known match coach and athletics figure Mika from Järvi the boy meets regularly, and there are plans for a trip to Finland this fall as well.
Vacation starts in a couple of weeks. Järvinen will compete twice more this season: in the pole vault and high hurdles.
– It’s nice to train with dad in Finland. On the field, we are coach and athlete, otherwise just father and son.
Although Tomas Järvisen has a Finnish passport, a second home in Finland, Finnish siblings, language skills and a Finnish club, namely Lahti Ahkera, changing the country of representation from the Czech Republic to Finland is not primarily a matter of announcement, and in Järvisen’s form of sport, perhaps not the best hand either.
Welcome with joy
Last weekend, the chairman of the Sports Association Riikka Pakarinen stated to Urheilu in connection with the match against Sweden, that Finland and the federation would welcome a super-talented Finnish athlete of Tomas Järvinen’s level with joy. Tomas Järvinen tells Urheilu that he has taken note of the discussion and does not find it embarrassing in any way.
– I completely understand that the issue is being discussed. However, I was born and lived all my life in the Czech Republic, and I have a great coach here Josef Karaswhich has helped me a lot.
Despite being Finnish, Järvinen would have to apply for a change of representation rights through the International Athletics Federation’s World Athletics process. Even at the shortest, the representation collar would probably be at least one year; the starting point is always three years. In athletics, even a representative task in the youth league locks the right to representation.
– That one year doesn’t sound attractive, admits Järvinen.
Mika Järvinen predicted to Urheilu that the boy would fight for the adult WC medal already next year in Tokyo, where the direct result limit is no less than 8,550 points. Järvinen achieved his Peru result with youth equipment: the puck weighs 250 and the ball weighs 1,260 grams less than in the men’s series, the fences are 7.6 centimeters lower.
– It’s not a problem, because I’ve already trained a lot with men’s throwing equipment and fences. Dad’s prediction sounds good, of course, but first you have to get a place in Tokyo.
Järvinen can at least aim for breaking the World Cup limit or a ranking position that entitles him to a place in the competition at the Götzis classic event in Austria next May-June.
Järvinen’s results should be reflected in the fact that he has only really invested in athletics and multi-sport training for a couple of years. Before that, the young man preferred to play football or tennis. The ages 15–17 were hindered by the most resistant problems, which caused long cycles of illness.
Just started training
Coach Karas is not a hunter of quick wins:
– Training can be increased and intensified a lot. So far, I’ve been training 4–5 times a week, and it hasn’t been particularly hard for me, says the fairy-tale talent.
Even in the Czech Republic, Järvinen’s junior world championship was a tough affair. The traditionally strong athletics country achieved only one medal from the Paris Olympics, which it brought from the women’s javelin event Nikola Ogrodnikova.
Last year, there were two bronze medals at the World Championships in Budapest, one of which was won in the javelin Jan Zelezny coached by Jakub Vadlejch.
Järvinen trains regularly at the same training center in Dukla Praha where Zelezny works every day.
– However, he hasn’t taught me how to throw a javelin, says Järvinen.
Of the sports in the match, the long jump seems to be my favorite at the moment, while the shot put is the most laborious.
Järvinen’s motivation to continue towards the great successes of the adults in Prague and as a representative of the Czech Republic is also largely explained by the match culture of the country and the club. Dukla has also been represented by a three-time world champion and an ME man Tomas Dvorak as well as the first Olympic champion to exceed 9,000 points Roman Sebrle.
In Finland, on the other hand, this season only four men have played a series that produced a pot of more than 7,000 points.