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The domestic athletics season has so far contained a lot of Finnish records. Also familiar names Wilma Murron, by Oliver Helander, Saga Vannisen, Viivi Lehikonen and Silja Kosonen in the lead have been mowing down the column space with their world top 10 level results.
Behind them smolders the most Finnish bang of the athletics summer. Jessica Kähärä has approached the 14-meter mark in the triple jump in recent weeks, but according to the insiders interviewed by Urheilu, Kähärä’s potential is currently somewhere between 14.10 and 14.30 in every competition.
The 21-year-old Kähärä’s jumping technique is technically still very lacking, which only increases the value of the results seen in Turku (13.76) and Kuortane (13.87).
Fumbling with technique is easy to put into repetitions, because Kähärä’s previous outdoor competition in the triple jump was in the summer of 2020. Before this year, his record was 13.29, which Kähärä jumped when he was 16 years old. Because Kähärä was the fifth best under-18 in the 2018 world statistics.
So the talent for jumping has been known, but there have been talents to do more. In the high jump, Kähärä crossed the bar from a height of 190 centimeters already at the age of 17, but the cycle of injuries so often associated with the sport made the Mikkeli Kilpa-Veikko athlete change his focus elsewhere.
Can’t even be found in the rankings
In addition to the triple jump, Kähärä has set records this season in the high hurdles (13.30) and the long jump (647). In the latter, he represents Finland at the European team championships in Poland during Midsummer.
The sport could very well have been the triple jump, where Kähärä has the best domestic statistical result of the season, Kuortane’s 13.87, just like the height. However, it did not record the registration of the EC team competition, which closed immediately after Paavo Nurme’s competition. In Turku Kristiina Mäkelä beat Kähärä with a hard cent.
Mäkelä has already secured his place in the World Championship team in Budapest, because last year’s result that brought silver at the European Championship also exceeded the World Championship result limit. On the other hand, Kähärä can’t even be found in the triple jump MM ranking.
To get into the World Championship ranking, an athlete must collect enough points in competitions certified by the International Association of Athletics Federations. There must be results from five competitions, from which the athlete’s average score determines his ranking position.
Kähärä has only three competitions so far: in addition to Turku and Kuortane, he won the youth championship gold with a result of 13.56 during two weeks of training in February.
These three competitions give Kähärä an average score of 1151 in the ranking. In the World Championships, 36 athletes will be entered in the women’s triple jump, among whom Kähärä’s points would now be enough instead of 28.
To get into the ranking, Kähärä needs two more races. They will probably only increase Kähärä’s point average when the technique is refined through repetitions.
The key is success in the most important competitions in terms of value scale, where the results are confirmed by the distribution points. Such are the B-category Kaleva competitions and the C-category under-23 European Championships in Espoo. The latter are the main goal of Kähärä’s season.
What does Kähärä decide to bet on?
It is also possible that Kähärä will not be seen in Budapest. He has informed the Sports Confederation of his interest in competing in the Universiade held in China between July and August. There, Kähärä has the opportunity to compete in several sports.
If Kähärä chooses the Universiade, he will not be able to participate in the Kaleva Games, which are organized at the same time and enable the most important points in terms of a place in the World Cup. Registration for the Universiade ends on July 11.
Kähärä is a model example of the versatility that is heralded in Finnish elite sports. However, if he wants to reach the top international level, the choice of sport must take place in the near future.
There is a reason why Kähärä’s peer Leyanis Perez can be found in the world statistics of triple jump in second place with exactly one meter better result than Kähärä. The Cuban has invested in the triple jump for almost five years, while at the same time the Finn, who competes in the half-light event, is trying to complete five races in order to qualify for the World Championships.
Against this background, the meter difference takes on a completely new light.
The attraction of athletics is not primarily related to medals, but to watching the performance of the athletes. This is what a Finnish bench athlete should cherish, especially during the World Cup seasons: even one medal from Budapest would be a top result for the Finnish team.
In this sense, curling tails have the greatest entertainment value right now. A place in the World Cup team would be a sensation considering the number of races and training.
It is even more interesting that assessing the limits of Kähärä’s potential is very difficult due to the factors mentioned above. Right now, Kähärä is associated with a mystique as a triple jumper, which is the best additional spice for the domestic athletics summer.
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